


Everything Under Heaven

by J-Bfan (Mysterie), JackfrostTruefrost300



Series: Mortal Guardians [3]
Category: Guardians of Childhood - William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Adventure, Anal Play, Anal Sex, Angst, Changelings, Cussing, Deception, F/M, Love, Mind Control, Nightmares, Rape, Sex, dark personalities, puppetry, teenage Jamie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-03
Updated: 2015-04-18
Packaged: 2018-03-20 23:37:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 20
Words: 36,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3669384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mysterie/pseuds/J-Bfan, https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackfrostTruefrost300/pseuds/JackfrostTruefrost300
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things have gone from bad to worse, how can the menace of Shadow and Jakoul be stopped? What will it take to defeat the two worst threats that come from two of the most powerful spirits that the Guardians have come to know? Jamie, despite being a teenager, still believes... but it's not like it use to be... </p><p> </p><p>Sequel to It Becomes Thee [3rd installment]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Poisoned Shadows

Shadow had promised Jakoul that she'd allow him this. After all, she had gotten to enjoy Jack's company though perhaps not in the way the other "shadow" had thought. Which was now why she is standing patiently in the closet of the teen who had yet to come home; she had spent hours setting up things to ensure that the boy would be alone in the house... His mother is off on some business trip and his younger sister off sleeping over at a friend's for the night. Jamie arrives home from school, smiling as he goes to get himself something to eat; unaware of the two intruders. A soft smile tugs at her lips at the sound of the boy downstairs. She sends out a bit of sand to move the snow globe that the boy used to summon the Guardians. She slides it out of sight beneath the boy's bed, not thinking about whether or not he'd notice it missing on the night stand where it usually is. Jamie hums a tune as he goes up stairs to his room with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He glances at his math homework, accidentally writing Jack's name next to 2 = 4; he couldn't help but think about the snow days Jack had brought and he is concerned now that he hasn't heard from Jack in a week. Shadow slips from the closet as the boy is distracted by his homework, she stands behind the door which is now half open, she would let the boy eat... He will need his strength after all; she murmurs inwardly so only Jakoul could hear her soothing words, she can sense he is becoming impatient and eager to test the body she'd given him.

 **"Patience my dear... patience... the boy needs his strength first."** Two minutes later Jamie had finished his sandwich, though he hasn't gotten any where on his homework; he stands up from the desk, preparing to take his empty plate downstairs when he senses that something is off about his room, he looks around and turns to see that there is a book out of place. Setting the plate back on his desk he moves over to fix it. Shadow rolls her eyes, knowing that Jakoul had moved from the closet to toy with the boy by moving the book; still, it is the perfect time now and she pushes her hand on the door. It swings shut, the click rather ominous in the silence that has persisted. It is dusk now, the sun nearly having sank all the way beneath the horizon. Sand pours from her and seals the door shut, it slides over all the surfaces of the room as the boy is whirling around to face her. The sand blocks out the moon and locks the window; all but plunging the room into pitch darkness as the only light came from the lamp in the teen's room. Jamie looks around in slight fear.

"Who's there?!" He he yells into the darkness, gasping as he feels something rough brush by him and he turns around only to be pushed into the wall by the bed, being held by Jakoul. The teen gasps, eyes wide.

"Y-you! I th-thought we got r-rid of you!" Jakoul chuckles.

"You can't get rid of something like me. I doubt Jack would let that happen as he still has some darkness in him, always will no matter what." Shadow chuckles.

 **"Really now Jamie... There's a darkness in you too... don't deny it. I can sense it... I know all the wishes of your heart as well as the dark desires that lay within... Jakoul could not simply be rid of anymore than you could part with your own feelings."** Black sand whips out and snags the boy's limbs to keep him from lashing out at Jakoul as she felt that the boy would do so if given the chance. Jamie gasps in pain as Jakoul summons ice to collar him with, the frost bitting into his neck.

"S-stop." He gasps out as Jakoul traces his stomach with one hand, smirking at the boy's reaction to his touch. Shadow makes a "tsking" sound.

 **"Now Jakoul... don't put too much cold in the collar... You'll freeze him to death before you have your fun."** Jamie's eyes widen with an untouched innocence.

"Aww... okay." Jakoul eases up on the coldness of the collar, smiling as Jamie looks at him in slight fear, knowing that the two have the upper hand against him. Shadow notices the boy's look of innocence and nearly laughs.

 **"Now isn't this precious? He's purposely forgotten that night we were stopped... Why don't we refresh his memory Jakoul..."** She chuckles darkly, amber eyes flashing with delight as sand strands form near the two and work quickly enough to rid the boy of his clothes. Jamie whimpers at the lack of clothing, feeling self conscious at being exposed. Jakoul chuckles at the boy's obvious shyness and licks his lips.

"Oh Jamie.... you look absolutely delectable... maybe just a taste." Jakoul kneels and slips the boy's hardening member into his mouth even as the boy struggles against the sand and ice collar. When Jakoul twirls his tongue around the tip of Jamie's penis the boy gasps in pleasure, unable to suppress the sound. Shadow smirks as she watches Jakoul tease pleasured moans from the boy; staying in the shadows, more or less... just as Jakoul had been in the wings before when she had been with Jack. After a long moment Jamie can't take the teasing anymore and cries out harshly as he climaxes into Jakoul's mouth, the other greedily swallowing it and licking up any that tries to escape. Tears fall from Jamie's eyes, he is terrified at what the two will do to him and at the same time he can't believe he'd taken pleasure in that act as he had. Jakoul smiles and turns his eyes to Shadow, not needing to speak - the two bonded as they are - to indicate that it is her turn to play with the teen. She smirks and nods a little before moving forward. As that night before... the one Jamie doesn't seem to remember - or didn't want to -  her hands on him are gentle and seductively teasing, each touch meant to arouse as delicate touches of her fingers became light grazing with nails when she finds where he is sensitive on his torso. She doesn't go below his waist yet, taking her time.

 

 

Jamie can't help but gasp in pleasure though he tries desperately to keep quiet.

"P-please s-stop!" He cries out as his length begins to harden again, becoming more aroused as he shakes his head in shame, unable to believe that any of this is happening.

"Shadow, can I try a toy yet? Maybe the small one... please?" Jakoul pleads, making a small icicle that looks about as big as a cucumber. Shadow smiles at Jakoul.

 **"Yes of course! The small one, mind you... remember what I said about easing him into it... Oh, and not breaking him..."** With a flick of her wrist the sand bonds pull Jamie onto the bed, wrapping around his ankles to pin him down but also to allow them easy access to any part of his body that they wish. Jamie's eyes widen at the sight of the icicle and he struggles vigorously to be free from the sand bonds.

"STOP! NO!" His protests are ignored as Jakoul shifts to one side of the bed, Shadow the other, and Jakoul eases the icicle slightly into Jamie's anal hole, causing Jamie to scream out in pain.

"Boy, you need to ease up or it will hurt more. Just relax." He says soothingly. 

 **"Oh... I don't know that he will relax that easily... let me help him relax a moment here... distract his mind."** Grinning, Shadow slides her nails along the boy's hard length and slowly towards his tip. Jamie opens his mouth, letting out a huff of air as he tries desperately not to moan from Shadow's teasing touch as well as the slowly building pleasure from the icicle. 

 **"Mmmmm... there we go... Now remember Jakoul, go slowly... after all... we have the whole night to play...."** She wraps her fingers around Jamie's length, slowly stroking him to distract and relax him. Jakoul smiles and slowly pushes the icicle in further, slowly, only to elicit a pure pleasured moan from Jamie.

"Does that feel good Jamie? Is this one of your desires? Of Jack doing this... is that what you're thinking?" He chuckles as he pushes in a little more than pulls back out, slowly thrusting the toy in and out of the boy, changing the angle of the thrusts a little until he finds the boy's sweet spot making Jamie open his mouth in a silent scream. The boy whimpers when Jakoul pulls the toy out of him, making the teen feel emptier with the contact inside him lost. Shadow steps back a bit to watch Jakoul toy with the boy.

 **"Ah... what a beautiful sight the two of you make... A shame we can't show up on film or I'd take a picture to take back to Jack..."** Jakoul smirks.

"Don't worry, I can send him everything by our link later. Oh how delicious it will be to see his face when he sees this..."

 **"Oh yes... I'd forgotten that... Mmmm... Well, be sure to capture it all. Oh... but don't get my part in this... after all... I have to be there to "comfort poor Jackie..."** Jakoul smirks.

"Of course." Shadow pulls out a toy that is slightly larger by only a few centimeters, it is sand that is coated by Jakoul's ice.

 **"I think it's time to try this one..."** She smirks.

 **"It should make him nice and loose for you..."**   Jamie screams at the sight of it, tears falling fast.

"Please let me go!" He cries, fear surging through him even as his body aches for what he knew would come.

"Ooh yes, that's so beautiful Jamie... Make more of those delicious screams for us." Jakoul says as he feels his own need pressing against his pants, begging to be attended to. Shadow smiles.

 **"Oh... I'm sure he will do better than that once you've properly claimed him..."** Jamie struggles more against the bonds at the feeling of the bigger toy being positioned at his hole. Shadow chuckles happily, watching the teen squirm in discomfort that soon becomes him squirming in pleasure; his body straining against the toy even as he gasps in pleasure from the pressure against his prostate, sending a spike of pleasure jolting through him. Jakoul smiles at the pure pleasure that crossed the boy's face, the teen having given into his body's responses to what was happening to him. Soon the pleasure on the boy's face would be in pleasure from Jakoul himself. Jamie whimpers as Jakoul works him with the toy.

"P-please... n-no m-more..." He gasps, unable to deny the pleasure even though he didn't want it from these two. Shadow chuckles.

 

 

"I think he's almost ready for you." Jakoul smiles.

"Good, I can barely hold myself back right now." 

 **"Just a moment more..."** She smirks, carefully watching Jamie's body's reactions to the toy. The teen groaning from the pleasure, his penis erect from the torturous pleasure. 

 **"I believe he's just right now...."** Jakoul smirks, looking into Jamie's fearful, lusted eyes as the teen shakes his head in denial as Jakoul slips from his clothes and the toy disappears as Jakoul crawls over the boy and aligns his cock to the boy's entrance. He smirks as he looks down at the boy.

"Just think of Jack, like always, doing this to you Jamie. I know that's how you feel about him, correct?" Tears fall like rivers as the teen's body shakes, Jakoul took no time in plunging in deep into the boy, causing the teen to cry out from the painful, pleasurable intrusion. Jakoul chuckles, moving in to bury his cock a little deeper before pulling out and slamming back in; Jamie cries out in pained pleasure. Shadow grins, deciding to make it more fun by blinding the teen with sand made into a blind fold.

 **"Now if you just talk in his voice...."** She purrs suggestively to Jakoul, knowing that the other could perfectly mimic Jack's voice; he had been Jack's darker half after all. Jakoul smirks and did just that.

"Jamie." He murmurs in Jack's voice, causing the teen to gasp; thinking that Jack is around, but also to struggle more as Jakoul continues to thrust harder, the boy saw stars as Jakoul whispers suggestively in his ear in Jack's voice; the boy seems to suddenly relax, crying and whimpering as Jakoul hit his sweet spot. Shadow purrs quietly, so that only Jakoul hears her.

 **"There you go... What a good boy he is..."**  The boy squirms beneath him, screaming in pleasure as Jakoul continuously slams into that sweet spot inside him.

"Who do you love Jamie? Who is it you want inside you?" Jamie screams out Jack's name as his climax slams into him, cuming against their chests as Jakoul slams deeper into him only to cum seconds later. Sweat soaked, the boy goes limp on the bed as the pleasure ripples through him and leaves him sated but feeling exhausted. Jakoul hums with the pleasure, staying inside the boy a moment; pleased with himself that he's claimed the boy, after a moment more he finally pulls out and cleans himself up a bit before dressing again.

"That was gooood... I can't wait to show Jack!" Shadow smirks, sprinkling dream sand on Jamie so that the youth falls asleep as the rest of the sand returns to her.

 **"Sweet dreams Jamie..."** She snickers and turns to Jakoul.

 **"After you Jakoul... and don't worry if he freezes your sand body... it won't last too much longer anyway."**  Jakoul smirks and flies out of the room on the south wind, light as a feather as he heads off to where he knew his frost spirit is while Shadow disappears into a nearby shadow to return to Pitch's lair to await Jakoul's return with news of Jack's reaction. Jack is sleeping in the nook of a tree, his arms crossed, hoodie up, slightly alert as he held his staff tightly despite being asleep; he was sleeping sitting up against the top of the trunk, his ears open for attack. Jakoul snickers when he finds Jack.

"Oh, how peaceful he looks... let's change that." Jakoul hovered before Jack and touches his forehead lightly, dark frost spreading from it and Jack cringes in pain; at the first few images of the "memory" Jack cries out for Jamie. His eyes snapping open and he looks around, seeing nothing for a moment.

"How did you like the memories Jack?" Jack's confusion and fear from what he'd just seen turns to pure, absolute rage and the wind picks up, becoming a strong blizzard that pulls Jakoul into the vortex.

"Oh shit." Is all Jakoul can say before Jack slams into him, repeatedly punching him. Jack grabs the other by his collar, choking him as they tussle but Jack is blinded by his rage. Jakoul mentally calls for Shadow, needing her help.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU, YOU BASTARD!" Jack screams above the howling of the wind as the rage in him grew tenfold, his eyes becoming nothing but white orbs as the ice Jack has summoned creeps into daggers along Jack's skin, cutting into Jakoul; Jakoul found he was unable to control any of it because it is only reacting to Jack's rage against him. Jakoul feels the response from Shadow and just laughs as his body begins to fall apart, but it's not painful as he begins crumbling into black sand.

"Pleasant dreams... Jack." Jakoul is soon back with Shadow, who was waiting for his essence to return to her where he had made his home since Mysterie had made the decision to draw Jakoul into her.

 

 

Jack just feels confused now, he pulls out the message bottle he'd retrieved from the tree branch and looked at then looks at where Shadow had disappeared; he felt conflicted. He is a Guardian, he should be with the other Guardians to protect the children of the world, but at the same time... What had they ever done for him other than ignore him and hurt the woman he'd come to love? Since the first time they'd met, Mysterie had been there for him, she had been mortal; of course she wasn't perfect, but what mortal was and he'd been mortal too before he'd been chosen as a Guardian. One of the things that had attracted him was her devotion to him, that she had been there for him like no one else had and he found he could tell her things that he hadn't even told Jamie. She had been old enough that she could understand him and she talked to him as an equal rather than as the child he looked to be. He knew that his life was better with her in it, but he couldn't just turn his back on his duties as a Guardian either. He looks at the teenager who is passed out beneath one of the trees; he feels darkness stirring in his heart even as he longs to help the heartbroken girl. All he had ever tried to do was gain believers, but what was the point if they grew up and stopped believing? If they turned their back on the Guardians and became like this girl who didn't even realize Jack was just a few feet away and was hurting just as she was? Jack growls in frustration and slams the message into the ground without even bothering to read it; the tiny bottled shatters and the sand message inside is lost as he turns his back on it and begins to search for Pitch's lair once more, this time with a purpose. In a room in the dark lair, Shadow runs a hand along the silk sheets; the same room that she had introduced Jack to, she sighs a moment before getting up and going to the throne room in search of Pitch for some company... However bad his company is it was better than nothing. Darkness stirs in her heart when her amber eyes met the silver ones of the Boogeyman as he sits on the throne. The slender shade merely opens his arms when he sees his queen and she crawls into his lap like a child to curl up against him, closing her eyes as he threads grey toned fingers through her hair. Jakoul snickers in her mind.

 **Jack's back and he seems willing to kill something this time.** Shadow doesn't respond but neither does Mysterie, Pitch smirks when he sees Jack. She turns her head to see Jack, her once amber eyes having returned to green; she was mid-motion of just starting to turn towards him when Pitch, wanting to break Jack's bond with her, swoops in before she can react; pressing his warm lips to hers. Green eyes widen in shock, Jack's eyes went wide as well, his heart breaking in half then and there. He turns away as Pitch finishes the brief kiss, Jack's brilliant icy eyes dulling and becoming lifeless as what darkness that remains in him begins to slowly consume him. Jack prepares to call the wind, but can't as a Nightmare grabs his staff and Jack glares at the thing as it screeches in laughter and he gives chase.

"HEY! GIVE IT BACK!" Mysterie jerks back from Pitch and slaps him hard, but the Boogeyman just laughs.

"Oh... that was SO worth it..." He nearly purrs even as she screams at him in pure rage as she flings herself from his lap. The Nightmares nearby converge on Pitch at her silent command as she flies away from him, leaving the shade to scream in pure horror as she forces Jakoul to release the bond so she can find Jack. Jakoul grumbles, but he releases his hold immediately and she chases after Jack, unaware of the Nightmare that had, on its own violation, snagged his staff in order to keep him close to her. The Nightmare tosses its head playfully, dancing just out Jack's reach; acting much like a puppy that wanted to play. Jack thought it was sort of cute, seeing the Nightmare act like an overgrown puppy, but he was also annoyed at the thing because he needs his staff.

"Come on little fella, give me my staff back and I promise we'll play. Just... come on." Jack jumps for it only to miss as it dances away, nickering at him as its form of a snicker.

"GIVE IT BACK!" It nickers at him again and stood in his face, but when Jack went to grab it he was kicked into a tree by one of the larger Nightmares that, had he not known any better, he would think was the little one's mother; the larger Nightmare snorted at Jack in anger, ready to kill him.

"Please, not the face!" Jack says, covering his face as the Nightmare rears to strike him with her hooves. Just as she was about to land the blow, however, she explodes from a spear of silver sand; Mysterie stood a few feet away, once more in control. The Nightmare holding his staff freezes as she spins around and scowls at it. It drops the staff, ducking its head. For a moment Jack just stares at her, his eyes wide and filled with confusion but then it slowly disappears behind a neutral mask as he walks over to her and grabs his staff; when he meets her eyes again sadness slips through his mask as he turns to leave.

"Thanks, I guess you taught me what it means to have a broken heart. I'm sorry if I broke yours." Jack says quietly, but not so that she couldn't hear it.

"I'm sorry Jack... I never meant for this to happen...." She closes her eyes, shuddering from the pain from the both of them.

"I.. I cannot mend the rift... I wish I could... That things could be as they were... Even in darkness... I cannot hurt you." She yanks the black cowl over her head in attempt to hide the tears that she can no longer stop. Jack sighs as he turns back to her and closes the distance between them, he hugs her close.

"I never wanted to leave you. I care too much for you Mysterie." He wipes away her tears, leaving freezing tracks along her face even as Jakoul growls.

 **Damn, I don't want to be here much longer really. I want to be back where I belong, with Jack.** He sighs, whining like a baby. Mysterie buries her head against Jack as Shadow shushes Jakoul, having retreated from control the moment Pitch had decided to steal a kiss.

"M-mysterie..." Jack gasps as he feels pain from behind, not noticing the Fearling wolf that had taken a bite out of him and that they were surrounded by them. She wraps her arms around him, only now noticing them and lashing out in pure anger at the wolves; they snarl but her sand is quicker than they are and each one that dares to get close ends up like the first... decimated. Blood and a purple liquid stain the wound. He feels like he is falling into darkness as his vision is tunneled, he gives her a tired smile.

"Mysterie... I love you." He collapses into her, silver sand swirls around the two of them in a storm; she is angry beyond anything as she wraps him in sand and takes off for the North Pole; the only place she can think of though she knows that she risks bringing the ire of the Guardians on her head, she doesn't care. She bursts into the infirmary and barks orders at a confused yeti who was checking the supplies. The yeti shakes with fear and complies with her demands without question. She lays Jack on a bed on his side, looking for the wound; the silver sand is keeping most of the poison from spreading, but she knows that she needs to do more than that. She just isn't sure that she should until... she looks up at the yeti who had gotten the bandages for her.

"Get the Guardians.... I don't know what will happen when I..." She shudders, knowing how risky this is going to be. Jack groans in pain, wanting it to go away; the yeti nods and heads off to get the Guardians as Jack breathes heavily and begins to have trouble breathing as Nightmares grow in his mind, terrifying ones, as the poison begins to slowly spread. Seeing that the poison is spreading despite her efforts... She doesn't wait for the Guardians to appear. She presses her hand against the wound, ignoring the blood, and plunged into the plane of dreams to deal with the Nightmares head-on... Knowing too well that they will latch onto her the moment she is there; that they will chase her because she is a true threat to them and like attracted like... 


	2. Day Break

Jack ran from a darker version of himself, the figure has a black hoodie and hair that is an even darker black; eyes as purple as velvet silk. 

"You can't escape Jack! You know you want to destroy them! Why not give in?!" The Nightmare calls even as it shoots black ice at Jack who dodges.

"SHUT UP!" He shoots at the dark figure. The dream changes suddenly from that and this time Jack sees that he is the one killing the Guardians, blood is everywhere. Bunny's corpse started talking.

"You did this Frost, we bloody never shoulda trusted you!" Jack drops his staff as the blood drips from the icy blade that has grown at the end; it is covered in the Guardians' blood. Their bodies are bloodily impaled in many places as the corpses rise and stagger towards Jack.

"No... I...."

"Is all your fault!" North's corpse cries out. Mysterie breaks out running towards the group when she sees them, the bloodied Guardians suddenly spin around as they sense her. She looks like a black light, the aura around her such a color... It is the darkness in her pulsing and calling out to the dark figures. They stagger towards her.

"Yyyoooouuuu...." The corpse that looks like Bunny hisses and Mysterie yelps as a shot of black ice from nearby sends her skidding right towards them and they reach out for her. She shoots out silver sand, trying to protect herself from the dark figures. When Jack sees her, he gasps and runs towards her, swinging his staff at the black figures as the black Tooth hisses.

"You're a failure Frost. You killed us and you're just going to hurt her again!" Jack's fighting stance staggers, which gives the dark version of himself a chance to tackle him and pin him down.

"Just give in! You can't deny the truth." 

"Stop! I know you're n-not real but figments of my worst fears!" The figures growl as they close in on him, the figures of North and Tooth cornering Mysterie. Jack sees it and something in him snaps. Jack lets out a scream in a burst of anger and power explodes from him at the figures. Their eyes widen to saucers as beams of ice blue light explode from him and they hiss in pain before disintegrating into dust. Mysterie blinks, forced to shield her eyes from the sudden light; she quivers from the blast as the darkness inside her shrieks from the light, sending jolts of pain through her.

 

 

Jack gasps awake, shaking from the pain in his lower back that shot up his spine. He looks around, confused to see Mysterie slumped in a chair next to the bed.

"M-mysterie?" She groans, slowly coming to after having passed out from the jolting pain.

"I... I think I'm gonna be sick...." She isn't, but she feels as if she is going to be; the pain coiling in her stomach and spreading out to her limbs. Jack groans in protest of his aching wound.

"Mysterie... thanks for helping me." The Guardians arrive and stare at the two, Bunny is the least happy to see Mysterie while the yeti that had left them moves to tend to Jack's wound; Mysterie manages to whisper before passing out from the pain.

"Anything for you...." Jack can see the group advancing on her, three of them looking like they were ready to lock Mysterie up in seconds; anger bursts through Jack like the poison that is slowly spreading through his body.

"STOP! Don't you _dare_ touch her!" Bunny shoots Jack an angry look.

"Why should we? She's the reason you're in this mes-!" Jack growls at him and he stops talking when he sees that Jack's eyes have turned a winter white with his power.

"This is ridiculous!" Tooth shouts and shoots over towards Mysterie and picks her up; before Jack could do anything she zips over and sets her on a bed nearby, scowling at Bunny and North. Sandy seems to be the only one to escape her scowl.

"Sandy! I thought you said you told them!" Sandy just looks a little sheepish. Jack sighs and looks at Sandy, wondering the same thing as pain hits him fast; the poison is still there and Jack clutches his stomach, hurling up blood. The Guardians gasp and Mysterie is forgotten for a while as they got to work. Jack tries to stay awake for it but Sandy puts him under as they work to purge the poison from him. It isn't an easy thing and the process of doing so, and patching him up, would take time; this sort of wound wouldn't heal quite as fast as normal wounds did on immortals; the poison that is spreading throughout him now would see to that. 


	3. Patients

Mysterie doesn't come around to the waking world until an hour later, her head throbbing, but she feels a lot better than she had when she'd passed out. She notices that Jack had yet to waken, Sandy was busy dressing his wound, which had some how gotten bigger as they'd pulled the poison out. Mysterie whimpers a little, but pushes past the pain, rolling over to reach one hand out for Jack. Tooth yelps a bit when Mysterie's hand suddenly made contact with her leg instead and Sandy signals to push the two beds together before Mysterie rolled out of hers as she tried to find Jack blindly. Tooth and he push them together and Mysterie settles down again only when her hand manages to find one of Jack's, despite a hiss of pain from her. Jack grimaces in pain as the last of the poison is pulled out, but it seems to ease when Mysterie's hand found his and a smile crosses his face as if he were awake and could see her. Mysterie sighs as sleep pulls her back once more into its warm embrace; Tooth chuckles a little as she shakes her head at the two.

"Who would have thought?" Sandy shrugs with a small smile as they go back to work. North grumbles with good nature about the two taking up space in his infirmary while Bunny is content to stay away from the two of them; he'd had enough of being yelled at by the pair. Some time passes before Jack woke slowly, painfully.

"M-mysterie?" She stirs a little, but doesn't wake.

"Jack?" Tooth flutters over to him, her voice soft so not to disturb Mysterie's rest.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine Tooth." He looks at her concern on his face and shakes his head before looking over to Mysterie, focusing only on her. Tooth smiles, even though Jack doesn't see it.

"You both have been out for days. We've been worried." 

"I've been what?" Jack asks, his brain not fully registering that at the moment.

"I-is Mysterie g-gonna be okay?" Jack struggles to get up but regrets it immediately as it pulls at the stitches of his wound and he hisses in pain.

"Jack! You shouldn't be moving so much! You need to heal more before you can!"

"Sorry Tooth." Tooth holds out a glass with some brown liquid in it that is very obviously not hot cocoa.

"Drink this, it might be a bit bitter but it will ease the pain. As for her... I wish I could tell you. She went in after you... She hasn't woken since... We don't know what happened to her. Only you know that and you've been out of it since you arrived here." 

 

 

Jack sighs and nearly gags on the brown medicine.

"God, Tooth! What's in that?!" She smiles.

"Oh, just a little bit of herbs Bunny brought mashed up with a little medicine." Jack looks over at Mysterie in a lot of worry. Tooth sighs a little.

"I know what she means to you... I'm sorry I didn't understand sooner. Sandy explained everything to us while you two were asleep." Guilt hits Jack hard.

"I should have realized what was around me instead of running off..." A tear falls from his cheek to Mysterie's hand that is holding his with more to follow. Tooth hugs him, minding his injury.

"We know sweet tooth, but she chose her path and I can tell she cares dearly for you. We'll try everything we can." Tooth brushes away his tears gently, worrying for him much as a mother would her child.

"Have faith in her Jack, she's come this far... She survived in taking in... whatever it was that was dragged from you. If anything, that should have driven her mad... but... it didn't." The fairy glances over at the young light spirit, for that is what North had figured out that she is and it had finally made sense how she's been able to weather her own darkness as well as Jack's. Manny had spoken to them too about her, about how she could be a powerful ally to them and had berated each of them for their lack of listening to Sandy who had been trying to explain to them about her for the last five years, but they had been too busy to notice; Tooth doesn't mention that though as it had happened a couple of nights ago when Jack had still been out.

"I'm sure, given time... She'll be alright."  

"I will Tooth. Now, when can I get out of here?" Tooth grimaces at him, knowing that he is a free spirit and doesn't like to be kept in one place, but nonetheless he'd sustained a rather serious injury.

"Not for a while Jack. Your injury is quite serious for a wolf bite. In fact, let me check it." She carefully unwrapped the wound, putting a hand to her mouth to muffle the scream. It seems worse than before; black veins grew from the bite that was now a black oozing, healing hole.

"Jack... are you okay? In any pain?" Jack shakes his head slowly, the medicine she'd given him was working. Tooth sighs as she rewraps the wound.

"The poison has done a number on you... even when we extracted it.... The damage was... more than we knew. I don't think even her sand could have saved you had she not contained it like she had and even then it wouldn't have lasted much longer... You're alive because she confined the bulk of it to the entrance.... but it will take time to heal and... I'd be surprised if you don't scar." Jack sighs, grunting in pain as he meant to roll a little to the left to feel more comfortable and the movement had caused his wound to twinge in pain.

"It's okay Tooth, I'll be back and about making it snow before you know it, but before that..." He growls.

"Pitch is **so** dead when I get out of here." Tooth notices how his eyes took on a white stormy pupils look when he said that; meaning he was beyond going to just hurt Pitch. He was going to kill the Boogeyman... regardless of how impossible doing so actually is. Tooth raises an eyebrow at him.

"Well, I certainly won't stop you there." The question of why he is that steamed at Pitch is in her eyes, but she doesn't ask. Jack starts coughing, he lost the strength he'd had from that feat and he closes his eyes in exhaustion.

"P-promise me Tooth that you'll try everything you can for her." Jack looks at Mysterie then turns to Tooth, eyes pleading. Tooth sighs.

"Jack... we don't even know what is wrong... She just... simply hasn't woken up. We've tried everything, but even Sandy is at a loss. Tell me... if you remember... what happened. Maybe it will give us some clue."  Jack thought a moment, trying his hardest to remember but it only causes him a headache.

"I-I can't remember!" He shouts in frustration that becomes sadness instantly; how could he not remember the events that had caused all this? Tooth put a hand on his shoulder.

"I might be able to help you, but Jack... if you can't remember on your own... it ... it might hurt to do so." She bites her lip, not wanting to put him through anymore pain than he'd gone through. 


	4. Memory of Pain

Jack sighs, thinking that he'll take the consequences.

"I don't care how much it will hurt, just do it." He huffs in slight annoyance at himself. Tooth smiles a little.

"I thought you might... which was why I had Bunny make his medicine dose a little stronger... Just... brace yourself." Tooth moves to hold Jack's head in her hands and presses her forehead against his; closing her eyes as her wings still and she stands at the bedside instead of hovering. Her power flows through him, memories flashing through his mind much like when he had peered into his tooth box those years before only many of these memories were sharper and more real, as if he was living the memories that pass before him; the most recent of them digging like blades into his mind, but dulled by Bunny's medicine that is seeping into him. Jack gasps as the memories flood in.

"She brought me here to save me from the sand wolves after..." He gulps, he was about to cry when he remembers seeing Pitch kiss her and the pain that had torn through him then tore into him now; he'd thought he'd lost her to Pitch and then... she'd come after him after he swore he'd heard a scream... but maybe that was his imagination... No... the memory was crystal clear. He'd heard it. 

"She... entered my dreams Tooth... to fight the darkness... She took the darkness away... I think.... I... I remember only seeing the white light and then..." Tears stream from his eyes.

"She absorbed the darkness!" He weeps openly as he looks at her, unaware that his memory isn't really what had happened...

"Now she has to deal with more pain.... Why didn't you let me bear it this time? Why?" Tooth smiles a bit sadly, she understands why... in an abstract way since she has never really been in love herself.

"Because she loves you Jack... She knew the risks.... she took it anyway... that is true love." Jack just weeps, unaware that his pain and suffering is jarring Mysterie awake.

"Please.... I can't let her bear this on her own... I have to take Jakoul back. She was right about the fact that they can't survive without a host.... but I... I could find ways to fight him!" Jack struggles to get up, but she does her best to gently push him back; but as Jack struggles Tooth knows she'd have to get help from Bunny and Sandy to put Jack back to sleep.

"What's all the racket?" Mysterie mumbles sleepily. Tooth gasps as Jack struggles harder as Bunny tries his best to get Jack to lie down to rest, the stress is very bad for him and at the moment is the reason he is hooked up to a heart monitor. Sandy would have knocked him out, but the Guardian of Dreams is busy elsewhere at the moment.

"M-mysterie!" Jack cries out with joy, Tooth looks at her with a smile.

"Welcome back to the land of the living."

"Really now... can't a person get some sleep?" She grumbles, cracking one eye open to look at the group she goes on.

"Bunny... you aren't the best of nurses... you might want to get back to your eggs...." Bunny stops trying to hold Jack still and looks at Jack sternly before letting him go.

"Mysterie." Jack wheezes out as he accidentally grazes his wound. Jack doesn't care though as he simply stares at her happily, she can sense the joy radiating from him and Tooth smiles, leaving the two alone with Bunny hopping after her.

 

 

"How are you?" Jack asks and she rolls over onto her side to look at him, she looks beat.

"Well... a mite better than you I think... I wasn't bitten and poisoned... Your power... man it packs a wallop." Jack rubs the back of his neck a little sheepishly, realizing suddenly that the light he'd seen hadn't been from her as he had previously assumed that it had been. Despite being one of his most recent memories, it was a little hazy as to what had actually happened.

"Yeah, sorry about that... I was really scared ya know?" Jack looks at her with a serious expression.

"Mysterie, I know you'll be pissed for a time for this but ... I need Jakoul back; before you freak out here are the reasons why, one; he is a trigger for Shadow to take over, two; I don't want you to bear my burden and three, I love you." He looks into her eyes, waiting for an answer. Instead of getting mad as he had anticipated, she just sighs.

"I love you too, but it's not that easy to just give him back you know. He is more linked with Shadow than before... I don't know if we can separate them... Doing so would be hard... especially since Shadow is so deeply intertwined with me now..." She lightly presses her lips against his before pulling back a little.

"Jakoul hasn't been a burden, I promise you that." Jakoul begins to list off all the things he thinks that Jack should be doing to her at the moment instead of just talking, a few of his "suggestions" are bad enough that even a prostitute would blush; knowing full well that they could both hear him. Jack blushes furiously, particularly when he realizes some of the suggestions were part of things he's thought of himself.

"Um o-okay, but you can't keep taking the darkness away every time I scream and cry for help. I've learned to deal with it for 300 years and feel much better in the morning." She wants to argue that he's learned to do that only because he'd had to and he hadn't had anyone to help him, but instead she only sighs. Much as she wants to protect him, she doesn't have the strength to anymore... at least not from the nightmares for the time being. Trying to ignore Jakoul's "little list" she mutters.

"THIS is what he gets for being tied to Shadow... who has seen it all..." She sighs a little and nuzzles against Jack with a second, tired, sigh. She could only be there for him when he woke up as the days turn into weeks. It grates on her, she hadn't felt this helpless since she'd been a mortal and that had been forever ago in her mind that she'd felt this useless because even when she'd still been human she'd manages to make herself helpful when she'd been an adult. It can't be helped though, she is constantly tired for the next few weeks, which keep her as much bedridden as Jack is by his wound. She is slightly better at being in one place though than he is, but the others would swear up and down that Jack was only staying in his bed because of her; even if he did complain a lot about being confined as he healed. 


	5. There's Needing and Then There's...

Jack wakes with a gasp.

"Huh, who, what?!" He yells, unaware that it is Mysterie nudging him, at the same time the end of his nightmare did the same; he looks at her and notices how tired she looks.

"What's going on? What time is it?" 

"You were yelling in your sleep again... I can't sleep with you making such noise." She replies, not bothering to answer the second question, as with as tired as she's been lately and the oddness of her sleep it doesn't really matter too much to her what time it is. She presses a kiss to his neck lazily to reassure him that she isn't mad or anything. He sighs, afraid to tell her what the nightmares are about and decides not to; knowing he will likely later get his ass kicked by her for it but for the moment it seems worth it.

"Sorry." He says groggily, his eyes have the same black circles that are under hers, though his are from lack of sleep rather than too much. Mysterie nuzzles gently against his neck, although she doesn't feel as tired as she had the last few weeks she doesn't want to move at this point if she doesn't have to.

"Well... at least they won't continue for too much longer... Tooth says the effects should wear off in another few days." Jack sighs, drowsiness taking over as he falls asleep with her, but as soon as he did the nightmares came to him; this time the nightmare was of recent events, how he'd not been able to save her from Pitch.

"MYSTERIE!" Jack cries out into the darkness only to be attacked by Fearlings, Pitch's laughter ringing out.

"You can run, but you can't hide Jack."

"What do you want?!" Jack cries out in the nightmare.

"I want you, Jack, as well as to watch you suffer until you give into fear..." Mysterie sighs as Jack fell asleep before she did, she'd pretty much guessed what his nightmares are about and it was one reason she hasn't asked; but as much as she would love to help she is too weak from the power he had unleashed when she had pushed back the initial nightmares. She slips an arm around his shoulders as he slept, minding the wound he'd sustained. Jack, in the throes of the nightmare, snarls at Pitch; fighting the slithering pieces of sand that were trying to capture him as he ran in the darkness only to see the bloody versions of the Guardians coming towards him. Shadow grabs his arms as she emerges from the darkness behind him, whispering seductively into his ear.

"Quit fighting him Jack, just join Pitch and I'll leave Mysterie alone." Jack struggles uselessly, he is about to give in but he wakes from the throbbing pain in his back and the sun's rays that are peaking over the mountains and through the window. Jack breathes shallowly, looking down at Mysterie and brushing some hair from her face, a smile crossing his own.

"I'd die for you, ya know that?" He murmurs, not expecting an answer as he disentangles himself from her embrace to sit up more before easing off the bed to head for the bathroom. He knew Tooth would disapprove of him being out of bed, but he needs this; to know that he can still walk at least, plus his healing body seems to act like it had when he was alive... meaning he had some use for the bathroom besides staring in a mirror. He leaned against the bed, trying his best to stifle a whimper of pain that escaped him as the stitches of his wound stretched with his movement. He manages to use the wall and his staff for support to the bathroom before finally reaching it. Mysterie sleeps soundly in the bed until Jack moves from it, she begins to stir a little. Jack sighs and winces a little in pain as he washes his hands in the bathroom, the water freezes when he touches it and he can't withhold a sigh at his lack of control of his freezing powers, something he's found he had no control over since he'd began healing from the bite. He had hoped that wouldn't happen, he really had only meant to wash his hands, it had just been something he was brought up to do and he isn't there to just stare at himself in the mirror; which he hadn't looked into long despite knowing that Jakoul wouldn't look back due to being tucked with Shadow inside Mysterie. Using the wall and his staff again, he makes his way back to the bed, wincing every few steps as the wound continues to sting when he moves. Mysterie groans, mumbling aloud.

"Yes, yes... I get it Jakoul... Now shut up. It's not going to happen any time soon." Jack stops at the side of the bed, looking down at her.  _God you're_ _gorgeous._ Even though she looks a little rumpled from sleep, it doesn't detract from how he sees her and he nearly groans aloud when he realizes he is slightly aroused by the sight she makes. 

 

 

 _Oh god... why me?_ Jack nearly groans when he catches sight of Tooth who has fluttered into the room and is now staring at him with her mouth slightly open at seeing him up at all. She instantly goes into her "mother hen" mode as Jack gulps nervously.

"Jack! You're not supposed to be up! You're causing too much stress on the wound! How are you ever supposed to heal properly if you're up and about?" She helps him back into the bed and tucks him in.

"Now I expect you to not do that again. I'll be back later sweet tooth, Bunny will be coming in to check on you as well." Mysterie groans, staring at the fairy as she tucks Jack back into the bed.

"TOOTH! You can't baby him like that! Or anyone for that matter... geez... Even HE needs some time in the privy... and you shouldn't be following him about for THAT... Besides, you're just giving me a headache..." Normally a spirit had no need for such a thing, but while healing... well, that was a different matter. Tooth backs away for the moment, hurt flickering in her eyes briefly.

"I-I'm sorry Jack... sorry Mysterie." Jack looks at her with sympathy while Mysterie rubs her eyes with a yawn.

"It's okay Tooth, you just get carried away a little." Tooth smiles.

"Thanks Jack." She flutters off and Jack groans quietly into his pillow at the fact of being babied, that Mysterie seems annoyed, the god damn pain of his wound and, on top of it all, the arousal that he just can't get rid of at the moment without getting out of bed again.

"Sorry Myst." He mutters, missing the slight smile that tugs at her lips. She waits until the door shut behind Tooth before there was a 'click' as the door locks behind the fairy thanks to a small strand of silver sand; she begins chuckling softly before murmuring.

"Do you really think I'd be irritated at just that? I had to get her out of the room some how..." She skims one hand along Jack's side.

"She might get a little carried away, but she is more obtuse than Jakoul was about Shadow before they melded." Jack hums in reply as he plays with a strand of Mysterie's hair, feeling himself get drowsy; after all, he hasn't slept well for the whole week. He shivers at her touch, muttering.

"Damn it to hell." He glances at the growing tent in his pants before kissing Mysterie and pushing himself up to get out of the bed again, to do so without crying in pain was quite a challenge. After a lot of effort he manages to get himself back to the bathroom.

"God... finally." He mutters only to see he'd been beaten to the bathroom by Mysterie who is floating on a cloud of silver sand.

"Oh no... I'm not making this that easy..." She gives him a small, seductive smile before leaning over the edge of the cloud she is sitting on to press her lips to his. Jack closes his eyes, leaning into the kiss and wrapping his arms around her; forgetting about his staff, which the sand sets against the wall nearby as Mysterie lightly rests her hands on his sides, mindful of his wound. She keeps her hands away from it as she lightly strokes his sides. Jack gasps as her hands strokes his sensitive side near his stomach.

"M-mysterie... m-more lower to the left." He begs slightly, unable to believe how good her touch feels. She pulls Jack onto the sand cloud with her, allowing for freer movement without injuring him further. She slides her hand lightly along his stomach, slipping her hand beneath his hoodie to lightly stroke the spot he's mentioned as she nips lightly at his neck. Jack shivers in pleasure, the tent in his pants growing tight; she strokes his skin with her nails, purring softly in her throat. Jack groans in pleasure at the light contact, kissing her deeply; slipping in his tongue to explore her mouth. She returns the kiss, pulling him closer as she groans in delight and pleasure; trembling a little as it seems like it had been forever since he's kissed her like that. Jack breathes into her ear a suggestion that makes her shiver and flush even as the tent in his pants only grows tighter, the pain of his healing wound long forgotten.

"I love you so much." He murmurs as he slowly slides his hand down her back and over the curve of her bottom. She presses closer to him with a whimper, more than willing as she nips at his lips, murmuring.

"I love you." He shifts to slip her shirt from her, smiling before slowly trailing his tongue along her skin, leaving frost in its wake. She shivers in pleasure at the feel of his tongue on her skin; the pleasure of it causing her to whimper and press against him, her eyes darkening from pleasure and desire. Jack smirks and his eyes meet hers, quietly asking permission to continue even as one hand skims down her leg.

 

 

"You taste sweet, like chocolate." She flushes, trembling from his touch as she nods a little; she wants him to continue, only he had ever made her feel like this, want like this. Jack shifts to slip the skirt from her to continue licking down her skin, lightly blowing on the inside of her thigh to cool it. He chuckles slightly in pleasure at how she trembles as his hands slide over her thighs as he licks her skin like a lollipop. She can't help but whimper, trembling with anticipation of what he'll do next and from the pleasure that he causes as she groans from his touch. He slowly slides down her underwear, shifting a little to smirk at her before he shifts to slowly slide his tongue along her clit, electing a gasp as a shudder ripples through her.

"Jack..." He shifts to smile at her, their eyes meeting as a groan rises in his throat; his body throbbing with his own rising need. She quivers with pleasure from his kiss, her eyes reflecting his lustful desire before she pulls him into a passionate kiss. Jack groans into the kiss, shifting a little to slip his hard member from his pants; it is dripping a little with pre-cum, but neither really noticed as he wraps his arms around her before sheathing himself into her; he waits a moment for her to relax, for the slight discomfort to turn into pleasure, which doesn't take long even as he gasps a little at his own slight discomfort. Pulling back from the kiss a moment.

"Sheesh, no matter how many times I do that to you you're still so tight...." He smirks before returning the kiss, battling against her tongue with his own for dominance as he begins to thrust into her at a slow pace. Mysterie flushes dark at the comment, sinking into the kiss only battling against him for dominance momentarily; groaning in her throat in pure bliss. The feel of pleasure of his thrusts sends a shudder through her and she submitted completely, quivering from the pleasure she holds him tight. That she could actually think anything at that moment was a miracle but one thought manages to emerge and she pulls from the kiss for just a moment to murmur with a bit of a knowing smirk.

"There's only one solution to that Frost..." Jack shudders, this wasn't the first time they'd talked about this and it likely wouldn't be the last though he doesn't reply to the comment; neither is really able to as the pleasure of his thrusts wipes away any thought other than the pleasure. Jack shifts the angle of his thrusts until she cries out his name and arches beneath him, letting him know he's found the angle to hit that sweet spot in her as the fire inside him burns until it explodes all at once and he cums inside her. She shudders, clinging to him and groaning his name as the pleasure of her release sweeps through her. As the pleasure laps at her like waves, slowly fading; she knows that only Jack had ever made her feel like this and that only he ever would be able to no matter how long she lived; for her, there would never be another, never could be.


	6. Never Far

"I love you." Jack murmurs before he kisses Mysterie once more, shifting to gently pull out. He blushes blue at the mess the two of them have made of the sheets, particularly since the sand cloud had drifted to the bed and had burst at some point; leaving the two of them laying on one of the two beds that had been pushed together. 

"Um... I should take care of those." Jack says and she chuckles.

"Don't worry about that, I got it." Silver sand swirls about, dealing with the mess and unlocking the door again.

"Well, I feel much better." Jack settles beside her, playing with her hair with one hand and thinking about the past few days as he does. She smiles.

"I think I read once that such activities are actually good for one's overall health. It was true when we were alive... can't imagine why it'd change now." She snuggles against him, pulling a blanket over them both, just in case. Jack sighs in contentment only to have that broken by an incessant voice whispering things into his ear. He sits up, looking around but seeing nothing he lays back down again.

"Do you hear the whispering?" Mysterie frowns a little. Whispering?

"No." Jack shook his head, thinking maybe it was just his lack of sleep and he turns to her, kissing her as he wraps his arms around her before he falls asleep, all the while the voice gets slightly louder. She smiles, watching him as he falls asleep before she drifts off herself; Jakoul stirs, the mention of voices uneasing even him, though Shadow distracted them both... the two can only wonder what Jack meant by "whispering" that even they did not hear. Jack tosses and turns in his sleep as the beginning of a dream took hold of his mind. At first things seem fine, he is sitting with Mysterie at a picnic.

_"Mysterie." He smiles as she turned towards him, smiling and the two kiss chastely. When he turns to look at the sunset, however._

_"Give in." Jack turned back to her, not sure what it was she'd said exactly._

_"What?"_

_"I said, give in Jack. You'll love the darkness." Ever so slowly Mysterie was changed into Shadow._

_"NO!" Smirking, she wraps Jack into a cocoon of sand; Jack fought it fruitlessly as inklings of dark sand surrounded him; engulfing him in pitch black darkness._

_"I won't give in! I won't!"_

"Jack?" Mysterie mutters groggily, pulled from her own dreams by his tossing.

"No, l-leave me alone! I w-won't g-give in!" Jack screams out in his sleep, tears streaming down his face as he struggles against nothing, but to him in the dream he was struggling against the darkness. Blinking awake, Mysterie gently shakes his arm, trying to pull him from the nightmare.

"Jack, wake up." Jack struggles and the nightmare ends as a blood curdling, bone rattling scream is torn from his throat. Mysterie looks at him in concern as he finally opens his eyes; she is worried... really worried. Jack breathes heavily as his eyes dart around the room in search of the darkness that had assaulted him in the dream before his terrified blue eyes land on Mysterie.

"It's okay... I-I'm fine." Jack says, trying to get control of himself as he turns on his side, ending the nonexistent discussion of the nightmare. Mysterie wants to ask him about it, but she doesn't any more than she has asked him before in the days previous when she had woken him from the grip of a nightmare. She does hug him close though in attempt to soothe him a little. Slowly, ever so slowly, Jack's eyes close again; braving what ever would come to him in his sleep... in a window nearby a Nightmare swarm dances about with Pitch among them with a smile. Pitch's satisfaction doesn't last long though when he is spotted by Tooth, who promptly drives him and the Nightmares off with her blades. Mysterie doesn't notice Pitch only because she is lost in thought as she looks at Jack.

 

 

Morning came all too soon, Jack wakes up and he is like a dead man as he has black circles beneath his eyes and his pale skin is paler than normal. He groans as aches hit him and nothing feels right. Mysterie is standing by the door when Jack woke up, quietly talking to Tooth who looks rather worried when she glances over to him, unaware he is awake, and squeaks a little too loudly.

"Are you sure?" Mysterie murmurs a reply even as she indicates that Tooth shouldn't be so loud. Jack bumps into the door nearby, not realizing where he is going once he is up. He tried to cover up his sleepy state with a smile so neither of them would worry.

"Hey guys, what are you talking about?" Jack asks before stifling a yawn. Mysterie stiffens slightly in a mix of surprise and something else, but she didn't reply while Tooth turns to him in surprise then smiles.

"Oh, well we were just talking about Bunny's new chocolate." She says a little hastily, not noticing Mysterie's reaction, but knowing the other spirit doesn't really want to say anything yet... and it isn't an outright lie... Tooth had told her about that at some point before she'd confided in the fairy a theory of hers. Jack smiles, unaware.

"Alright, well I'm gonna go check on the old Kangaroo anyways." He flies out the nearest window towards the Warren. The two watch him leave.

"You should tell him." She gives the fairy a deadpan look.

"Right... because it would go over  **so** well for him to know that he nearly killed me when I went to face the Nightmares from the poison."

"But you said that it would-" 

"I said it MIGHT. There's no guarantee that it would succeed and even if it did... who is to say I'd live through it? He wasn't even trying that time Tooth... and with Pitch stalking him at night..." She shakes her head, Tooth had told her about that too.

"He doesn't need the added stress; even if he is almost fully healed from that wound." Tooth sighs, but doesn't argue further. Bunny is busy making final preparations for Easter, which was tomorrow, adding to each basket an extra touch with the extra eggs he had; he smiles as he finishes on specific basket that is blue in color and has snowflakes decorating some of the eggs. All too soon his nose picks up the familiar scent of mint and snow and he immediately hides the basket from sight as he turns to look at Jack with a slightly angry expression, but decides not to yell at his fellow Guardian since he is still wounded; he hates it when Jack tries sneaking up on him, as the winter spirit often tried. Jack smiles at the Pooka, or as he often called him "Easter Kangaroo," seeing that he is painting some eggs when Jack finds him. Jack looks around at all the prepared eggs; there are thousands.

"Wow, you're prepared aren't you?" Bunny looks at him, growling slightly.

"Well, what are ya doin' here? Don't ya remember I told ya not to come here while I'm preparin' fer Easter?" The words slightly wounded Jack, reminding him a little too much of the Easter he'd unintentionally ruined years ago... A whisper in his ear told Jack to show the Pooka "what for" but he ignores it, surprised at what he is actually thinking. He could never hurt Bunny on purpose. Bunny grunts a little when Jack didn't answer.

"What are ya even doin' outta bed? Didn't North an' Tooth confine ya to bed until ya at least had them stitches out?"

"Well, they let me go." Jack looks at Bunny as he heard the whispering voice whisper terrible things and suggestions, his smile falters, which doesn't go unnoticed. Bunny raises an eyebrow.

"Somethin' wrong? You don't look like you should be up an' about ta me. Maybe 'nother day's rest will fix that." Jack looks at him, shaking his head.

"Nah, I'm fine." Jack notices a couple of the eggs with legs cuddling next to his feet. Bunny looks at him in a no-nonsense way, meaning he wasn't going to be brushed off so easily with the answer Jack had given him. Jack gives him a challenging smirk that said 'try it, see what happens' but before Jack can take off a screech sounds in his head and he can't help but cover his head as it continues getting louder and louder along with the whispering voices. Jack collapses, crying out in pain before he passes out. Pitch watches, hidden in the shadows with a smirk.

"It works." He chuckles lowly, turning his gaze to the Nightmares.

"Continue with the nightmares 'til he is in the palm of our hands. Make sure Mysterie doesn't get in the way this time."

"Jack!" Bunny doesn't hesitate to run to the winter spirit's side when he collapses.

"Mate... what's wrong? Speak ta me!" The Pooka's eyes are wide with concern and an inkling of fear. Back at the North Pole, Jakoul screeches in pain, causing Mysterie to cry out.

"Jakoul... what the?! What's wrong?!" She doesn't understand why he is suddenly in so much pain, not knowing the darker shade is still linked - in a way - to Jack and still feels what he felt even if he isn't latched on to Jack, only knowing that it is just as painful to her to hear his screech.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you were wondering... yes I did purposely post this the day before Easter & no I didn't change the post date. It really was the day before Easter that we got this done.


	7. Into the Dark Deep

"Jack! Wake up!" Jack can't see anything but darkness and a silky voice that told him to give in while another told him to wake up. He didn't like the first voice but he realizes that he is leaning towards giving in and the screeching stopped. That is all he knows.

"Wake up! Come on mate, wake up!" Jack cries out in pain as bright white lights greet his eyes before he closes them again, he slowly opens them after a moment again to find that everything around him is blurry and unfocused. He realizes he is on a bed as his eyes begin to refocus and that focus is on Bunny. His voice is raw and raspy when he speaks, as if he'd screamed for hours as he looks around, trying to figure out where he is. The room was a soft white, like the snow that was falling outside and there were other beds that had white sheets like the one that he is lying on; a yeti is stocking supplies in a nearby cabinet.

"Here...." Bunny hands Jack a cup that has a strange, brown liquid in it, but it actually tastes good for once. The Pooka's eyes are filled with what seems to be relief. Jack drinks the liquid, it strangely tastes like vanilla.

"How long have I been out?" His brain feels like it is pulsing, a headache forming.

"God my head hurts." He looks from Bunny to see that all the Guardians are standing around him.

"Coupla hours mate. Ya gave me a right scare."

"Sorry, I don't know what happened. All I remember was a ringing noise and then nothing." He looked at the group, feeling self conscious and woozy from the medicine. He fell back into a sleep soon afterward.

"It's Pitch." Mysterie said, having been standing back from the group as they'd ringed around Jack's bed. She'd been watching the others, only Tooth didn't seem surprised when they turned to face her, moving away to allow Jack to sleep.

"Tooth drove him away the other night. I'm surprised she didn't tell any of you... We can't leave Jack alone." They glance at Tooth who gives them a sheepish shrug before they turn back to Mysterie as she moved over to Jack, sprinkling golden sand over him to ensure peaceful dreams.

"I don't know what he plans... but we should be on guard."

"We? Mate... you can barely even summon enough of your sand to lock a door, let alone fight." She sighs, not too surprised that Bunny had noticed the locked door the other day. 

"I know... but there's no choice. I was the one who agreed years ago to be Jack's guardian... even if I'm not really one of you." Bunny snorts a little.

"Might as well be much as ya hang around here." Mysterie wasn't sure what to say to that as North shares a meaningful look with Sandy and then looks at Mysterie. She knew that look.

"Maybe when this is all over North... but not now. Besides... I don't think Jack would want to miss that." They all nod, glancing over to Jack again; they were reluctant to leave to get back to their duties but each of them did except for Mysterie and Sandy; Sandy dozes nearby while Mysterie sat on the edge of the bed.  _What are you after Pitch? What could you hope to gain?_

 

 

The peaceful dream doesn't last long before he was pulled into another nightmare.

"NO!! LEAVE ME ALONE! WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!" Jack screams at the dark sand creatures that are closing in on him.

"You, Jack. Give in, become one with the darkness." The voices whisper non-stop as Jack cries in fear as he felt slithers of darkness wrap around his legs slowly and he screams when he notices that he is in a pool of living black liquid that is engulfing him.

"NO! STOP PLEASE! I DON'T WANT THIS!" Then he heard Shadow's voice, but there was a nasty tinge to it.

 **"Oh, but it is Jack. You want to destroy them. The Guardians, to show them you're not a tool to use."** Slowly at first, fire rapidly spreads on his body and Jack screams in pain, a scream torn from his throat as he thrashes in the infirmary bed in the throes of the nightmare. Jack is swallowed whole by the black liquid that forces itself down his throat. He screeches with no sound as the tendrils force their way into his body.

"JACK!" Mysterie reaches out to stop the nightmare only to screech in pain, as if burned, when the Nightmare that is created from the dark dreams slams into her instead; Sandy is jolted awake only to be distracted from Mysterie by other Nightmares that appear, leaving her to deal with the one that sent her flying. Jack struggles as he is being drawn into the squirming masses of darkness, a velvety silk voice hushes him.

"Don't fight it Jack. Let it take over, you'll love being dark. Come on... that's it... succumb to it." Jack slowly closes his eyes, falling deeper into the darkness.

"Jack!" Mysterie struggles to get up, sand snapping at the Nightmare that is holding her down and it disappears as it explodes but more and more of them arrive. Mysterie scrambles to Jack's side, silver whips in hand to drive the Nightmares back, but they just keep coming and even with the other Guardians joining the fight it doesn't look good. She stands on the bed, keeping herself between Jack and the Nightmares even as she hears a familiar cackle.

"I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see you finally brought to your knees dream walker..." Mysterie stares up at Pitch, eyes widening a little. Nightmares were one thing, but does she have the strength to take on Pitch? Jack slowly goes through a change, falling under Pitch's control; his hair turns as black as the night save for a single white strip on his left side, his skin darkens to a gray and his hoodie darkens until it is black with black ice skittering along it where there had once been just frost. The tan pants also darken to a dark gray. Pitch smirks, Jack is under his full control.

"Jack, wake up." He purrs and instantly Jack's eyes snap open, they are no longer the brilliant blue Mysterie has come to love, but a red orange that look at her with no emotion in them; they are simply blank, almost soulless in a way. She can only stare down at him, not sure what it is she feels, but it hurt... it hurt a lot.... She turns her gaze back to Pitch, anger sparking there as she roars in absolute fury.

"PITCH!!!!" Ignoring the cries of the other Guardians, she summons her sand to fly at Pitch, her doubts about whether or not she could take on the shade forgotten. All she can think then is that she's been too lenient before when she had "punished" him for going after Jack... This time she intends to make sure that the shade is afraid of even his own shadow. Before she can reach him, Jack is forced to interfere, pain shooting through him as he tries to still fight, but he can't control his body anymore and ice slams into Mysterie's back even as Jack cries inwardly, tears leaking from his unblinking, red orange eyes. She halts where she is at and spins about, staring at Jack. Her hands balled into fists.... she can't hurt him and glances away, but it is a ploy as a thread of silver sand creeps up to lash at Pitch in the shape of an arrow. Pitch growls, snapping his fingers and Nightmares took the brunt of the attack to keep him safe. He smirks at her.

"We should be going now. Come Jack." He smirks darkly as Jack follows blankly like a puppy following its master. The Nightmares whinny, sniffing at him and licking his hands as if they were his puppies as the two of them were engulfed in black sand. It dissipates and Jack and Pitch were gone. 


	8. A Dark Deed

The Guardians were too busy fighting off the invading Nightmares to stop Mysterie as she flies straight out of the nearest window and heads straight for Pitch's lair. She isn't going to give up on Jack. He is her reason for living, for being; whatever reason Manny had for bringing her back to be an immortal no one knew for certain, but even if there is a different reason for her being she was Jack's protector first and foremost because the winter spirit held her heart. As she flies off to the arctic she plunges into a cavern, one of many of the other entrances that Pitch has around the world and she had seen when she had been his captive before, Jack struggles inwardly against Pitch's influence; slowly he begins to wonder the reason as to why he is even fighting Pitch. The Boogeyman smiles, looking into the red orange eyes as they stand in the throne room a few feet from the actual throne. He circles around Jack who just stands still.

"Now to test my control... Jack, who do you serve?" Jack fights for his body to listen to him, but it is like his voice is on auto pilot as much as the rest of him, answering without him wanting to.

"You, master." Pitch smirks at the word 'master.' 

"And who are our enemies?" Automatically Jack is forced to reply with words that are not his own.

"The Guardians." Pitch smirks as he stops before Jack.

"Aaand?" Despite Pitch's control, there is hesitation as Jack fights even harder to not answer. Pitch frowns at that and he snaps his fingers. Jack collapses as pain convulses through him.

"I can see how much you love her, Jack, but you're going to do me a favor and end her." Jack's eyes widen in terror. Jack had made a vow to not hurt her and Pitch was eluding that he would not only go back on his vow, he would...  Mysterie finds the trip to be exhausting, but she reaches the lair.

"Pitch... you're going to regret this." She hisses, not having the strength to do much more, having ended several Nightmares as she fought her way through the lair's twisting corridor; it is a trial just to get this deep into the lair. She is worn out and it was evident, but her eyes shine with determination... She doesn't have the boundless resources that she has when she is on the dream plane. She isn't going to let this stop her though. Jack struggles as darkness seems to climb up his neck, forcing its way inside him and he screams as the darkness moves and squirms in him. His eyes glowing brighter as Pitch manages to gain full control.

"Now, I have a job for you Jack." He smirks and whispers to some of the Nightmares to follow behind Mysterie without being noticed before turning back to Jack, fully indenting to tell him to find Mysterie and bring her to him but then another idea sparks in his mind. Mysterie searches the lair for the two, snapping whips at any Nightmares that came too close to her before coming to the throne room where Pitch turns to her with a smile.

"Ha ha... it's a pleasant surprise to see you here dear." Pitch snickers as do the Nightmares around him.

"Oh Jack, looks like you have a visitor." He calls and Jack comes from the darkness, leaping from one of the cages above, emotionless as before; as if he was a machine that is only there to follow orders. His eyes snapping immediately to Pitch who smirks. Mysterie shakes with fury, but says nothing in return; though it is an effort to stay standing at this point for her for many reasons.... the exhaustion, the sorrow that is threatening to overwhelm her, the whispering voices of Jakul and Shadow...

 

 

"Now my dear, I believe Jack and I have some Guardians to destroy." Jack looks at Pitch, awaiting orders, not even acknowledging Mysterie's presence.

"Master, what are my orders?" Pitch smiles at Jack then smirks darkly at Mysterie.

"First, get rid of this dream walking pest." Jack turns to her, eyes instantly flashing with orange fire as he called ice and snow; the wind whispering "sorry" as it slams Mysterie into the nearest wall of the lair. She whispers back in return.

"It's okay... it's not your fault..." A tear slips down her face even as she picks herself up. A sand spear appearing in her hand and she tosses it at Pitch despite that her eyes didn't leave Jack. Pitch growls as he destroys the spear.

"Get rid of her! Now!" Jack cries and screams on the inside even as the wind sent ice cutting into her and ice spikes shoot from his staff; several miss as she dodges the attacks, but one slides into her left arm, causing her to cry out in pain. There were tears leaking from the unblinking red orange eyes as Jack struggles, it is hard just to utter the words he manages.

"M-mysterie... I-I'm... sorry..." With that, Jack lost control again and used the winds to make a snow storm vortex that surrounds the two of them, making it impossible for her to strike at Pitch a second time and trapping her at the same time. He summons ice daggers that hang in the air a moment before slashing into her at his command as the wind slams them into her.

"I don't blame you..." She whispers before the ice daggers slam into her, she cries out as the daggers cut her, quietly crying as the sand she commands tries to keep up with all of the wounds, but it's difficult with so many of the daggers and she barely has the will to push Shadow back into the back of her mind. Jakoul is oddly silent. Jack screams a war cry, the only other thing he does as the pain hits him as he summons a final blow, ice magic pouring from him and slamming into Mysterie; the power increasing with each passing moment and everything went white for a brief moment before the surroundings came back into focus. The ice magic cut deeply into Mysterie, Shadow and Jakul shriek in her mind, but their shrieks were silenced suddenly as the pain ripples through her and she lets out a shriek of pain before she seems to just explode into millions and millions of silver dust particles. They glisten in the dim light as they float down, decorating everything around them. Inside, Jack breaks from the grip of the black liquid that is holding him and his eyes became blue once more.

"MYSTERIE!!!" Jack's scream echoes in the large area, all of his pain went into it as Jack ran to the spot where Mysterie had once stood; collapsing to his knees before the spot, tears pouring from his eyes so quickly that they only froze when they were half way down his face as he begins to cry hard. He has done the unthinkable. The one thing he never wanted to do... a fear that even Pitch's Nightmares hadn't touched when they had tormented him because up until today he hadn't known it was a fear he'd held; he had never even thought it possible until Pitch had said he would do it.

"No! Why me?! WHY me?!" Jack cries loudly, all his anguish for Mysterie poured into the words and he collapses from fatigue. Pitch picks up Jack with black sand.

"Tsk tsk Jack, you seem to have tired out. Well, let's get you to bed for now." He pulls Jack with him into the nearby shadows to place him into a room similar to the room that Shadow had once taken him to before, though this one had a real door. Laying the unconscious winter spirit on the black silk sheets before disappearing.


	9. Rescue

The Guardians, having finished dealing with the Nightmares, head off to Pitch's lair to retrieve Jack and Mysterie, unaware of what had taken place. Pitch snickers when the Guardians enter the throne room where he sits.

"Well, if it isn't the Guardians. What brings you here?" He smiles at the glares that met him. Bunny closes the distance first, keeping several feet between him and Pitch still.

"Where's Jack?!" He snarls. Pitch smirks.

"He's resting at the moment. He'll be out to play later. Seems he's spent his energy dealing with what you see before you." He gestures to the silver sand that was covering one wall of his lair. Tooth covers her mouth in horror as the meaning of what Pitch was saying sank in. Tears came to her eyes, North pales, Sandy's eyes widen; Bunny just roars in rage, running full speed towards the shade, throwing multiple egg bombs while North recovers only to feel anger surge in him as he launches himself forward only for Pitch to disappear as they attack from opposing sides causing North and Bunny to smack into one another, the two grunting in pain.

"Well, I'll see you later Guardians. I have a frost spirit to tend to." Sandy is the only one who doesn't seem to react to Pitch as he moves over to the silver dust, he picked some of it up; it is glowing very faintly, making the many grains look a lot like tiny stars. The little Guardian starts collecting the sand as North and Bunny try to fight Pitch, the little man thinking something, but the others are too distracted to notice as they charge the shade. Nightmares surge to distract the Guardians while Pitch disappears in the shadows, heading for the room to put a stronger hold over Jack.

"Oh, such sweet dreams Jack... let's fix that shall we?" He touches Jack's forehead, watching the boy's once happy face turn into a frown as he whimpers in pain and fear, finally screaming until he stops moving. Crying as his eyes snap open and they were red orange once more.

"Hello Jack, have a good rest? Now, the Guardians are here, let's show them what the new you can do." Jack nods and follows Pitch from the room. The Guardians had wiped out the Nightmares minutes later, searching the darkness for more but not finding any.

"Let's find Jack!" Bunny says and the group moved to search the area, though their spirits are a little down from what none of them wanted to believe to be true...  As they search for Jack, Pitch whispers something into Jack's ear and he nods, tapping his staff to open a shadow tunnel that would allow him to travel through the shadows. He laughs like his normal self to get their attention when he arrives in the same tunnel they were currently searching.

"Frostbite? I know ya'r here, where are ya?" Bunny asks as the Guardians stand back to back, searching the darkness for their comrade.

"You shouldn't be here." Jack says from the darkness, Tooth seems to be terrified though what of exactly is hard to say.

"Why Jack?" North asks, stabbing one saber into the ground.

"Jack, come out. We're only here to help!" North called after a moment and Jack snickers.

"I don't need help. Pitch showed me it's better to live in darkness." 

"Jack... you... you can't do this! What would she think?!?" Tooth cries out, about to burst into tears; her eyes glistening with them as she remembers what Mysterie had told her what seemed like a lifetime ago though it had only been hours... The others stare at Tooth in surprise, the fairy is terrified and yet she seems to find the nerve to speak.

 

 

"Is it not enough that you-" She chokes on the words, she couldn't say it... not yet... Her throat clenches, instead she pushes on as if she'd actually spoken the words she didn't even want to think.

"Do you have to dishonor her memory too?!" Jack's eyes go wide, flashing blue in pain as realization of what he's done slams into him, Jack begins to breathe heavily, shaking violently as he pulls at the black hair that he wishes was white, but the darkness latches on again; Pitch's influence is stronger than that.

"SHUT UP!!" His eyes flash dangerously and he slips from the darkness, pointing his staff and preparing to fire on Jack's command, the shadow he controlled, that looks exactly like him, then mimicking his movement while Pitch watches the event with smiling glee.

"Mate... we all know how much you loved her... Just.. please... don't do this. Come back." Bunny says, surprisingly softly. Jack's eyes fade back to blue again and his grip on the shadow is gone; he lowers his staff, tears falling and clinking to the floor as Jack falls to his knees, wailing in sorrow of what he's done... What he'd almost done to his friends. Pitch growls from behind him.

"Finish them now, Jack." Jack looks at Pitch and shakes his head no. Pitch snarls, grabbing his hair.

"You should learn not to disobey me Jack." Jack writhes in pain as a searing ache goes through his body and he cries out. Bunny snarls and he and the others charge at Pitch. Tooth reaches Pitch first, forcing him to let go of Jack as her sabers flash against his sand scythe; Bunny launches a few egg bombs as cover to snatch Jack up while North charges in with his sabers and Sandy - having finished collecting most of the silver sand, keeps Pitch busy with his sand whips while Bunny heads for the exit, holding onto Jack.


	10. Haunted

Jack shivers, unaware of what is going on, only aware of the burning pain that is coursing through his body that expands and continues growing until he was screeching so loud that that it hurt even his ears. He shakes his head, covering his ears, trying to get it to stop only to eventually pass out from the pain alone. Bunny heads back to the pole with the others not far behind after Fearlings enter the fray and force them to retreat. Bunny put Jack in a bed, but the bed he chose was on the other side of the room, away from the two that are still pushed together. His ears droop, one on each side of his head, as he allows his feelings on the events of the day to finally take hold. The other three are just as dispirited, if not more so when they join him in the infirmary; the four quietly mourning in their own way. Two hours later, Jack groans in pain, gasping for air as if he has never breathed before; it snaps his eyes open and he looks around, noticing that he is back in the infirmary at the pole. He doesn't remember anything that has happen until a few minutes later, when it slices through his mind he gasps, realizing again what he has done... been forced to do.

"No..." It was all he could whisper before letting out all his anger at Pitch, his pain and suffering into one long scream; the weather outside mimics his turbulent emotions by whipping up a blizzard that has never been seen before at the North Pole. The energy it costs makes him slump forward, breathing heavily from the energy he lost from his emotions and from what it had cost to create such a storm. Tooth flutters over to him, settling behind him. She wraps her arms around him, holding him close; the others are scattered around the room, none of them able to look at Jack as they dealt with the loss of a friend and ally. Sandy is the furthest, settling on the other side of the room as he seems to be watching over the sand he'd collected that lay on a blanket on the floor at the foot of the two beds that are pushed together; the blankets still ruffled as if the occupants were expected to be back soon. Jack struggles against her hold, not wanting the comfort; knowing that he doesn't deserve it. He sobs hard, trying all the while to push Tooth away, but she doesn't relinquish her hold.

"P-please I-I..." He couldn't even finish his sentence as more guilt hits him like a ton of bricks, he'd hurt his friends... he'd... He sobs even harder, turning to hug Tooth tightly, burying his face into her feathers, icing them thoroughly. Tooth only holds him tighter, not noticing the cold much.

"It's okay Jack..." She murmurs softly as she lightly strokes his back and hair, doing her best to comfort him though she knows that her attempts weren't enough. Jack cries until exhaustion claims him, all the while that he sleeps the Guardians discuss what to do about Pitch for the moment and who will stay with Jack during the time since he was mostly likely his target again. After a lot of discussion it's decided that Tooth and Sandy are the best choices; Sandy being able to take the most watch and Tooth because she could send her fairies to do most of her work. Jack awakes from another nightmare that Sandy thought he'd stopped, but this one was a replay memory of Mysterie's death; something that can't be changed. Tears leak from the corners of Jack's eyes but he wipes them away, flicking the frozen tears to the floor which make a soft tink noise as they hit the floor. He decides to see how bad he looks in the mirror, knowing that Mysterie wouldn't want him to give up; so he decides to honor that and put up a fake facade again, knowing that she'd hate that he chose to bottle up his emotions again, but it is the best that he can do for now. He goes over to the bathroom and looks in the mirror, he barely recognizes the disheveled person with dark circles under their eyes that peers back at him; eyes red rimmed from crying and although his hair is white once more there was a black streak on his left side where the white streak had been when his hair had been black. It is the only thing that reminds him that he can't get rid of the control that Pitch has over him, but he still feels as if something is not right with him. He splashes warm water on his face, desiring the painful effect; only thinking that he deserved it as it both slightly weakened and burned him. It makes him feel much better though and he goes back to the bed. He isn't quite ready to face any of the other Guardians, he decides to leave the pole for a bit even though he knew that they'd hunt him down.

 

 

Jack's assumption was right, as soon as Tooth had discovered that Jack was gone when she'd gone to check up on him the Guardians had left the pole and split off to find him. Sandy didn't join the other three, to the puzzlement of the others; he seems obsessed with the silver sand he'd collected from Pitch's lair that gives off a constant, if faint, glow. Jack flies over Burgess, ignoring the insistent nagging of the wind to go back.

"Stop, I'm fine." Jack looks down at the pond, it was his pond and he can see children were happily playing on it; his magic having kept it solid enough to hold a herd of elephants. A smile comes to his face when he saw Jamie walking towards Pippa's house, he shook his head though as seeing the pond also meant seeing the ice "cavern" he'd made for himself and that had been a temporary home for him and Mysterie in the early spring five years ago... Memories of her begin to flow into him and he takes control of the wind, pushing to go down to the pond as the children leave for the day. He looks at his reflection in the pond's ice, ignoring anything and everything around him. With a sigh he decides to sleep in his favorite tree, sitting at the trunk's base as he settles against it into a sitting position, staff in hand just in case... Pitch is still a little weak from the fight with the Guardians, he isn't about to admit it, but it had taken a lot out of him just to turn Jack and then there'd been the fight with the Guardians... blast them! He'd been contemplating following Jamie and regaining some strength when instead he notices a shadow from above and glances up from the shadow of the tree he'd been standing under. A smirk crosses his features and instead he follows Jack. Seeing the boy sleeping sitting up he moves to stand behind him, beneath the tree and drawing upon his reserves he begins to spin a delicious nightmare for the winter spirit. Jack was dreaming of Mysterie and the Guardians.

_Jack grins as his friends tossed a frisbee towards him, he caught it and tossed it towards Tooth who caught it and tosses it to North. They were all grinning, even Bunny as he caught the frisbee before tossing it to Sandy. Jack turns to see Mysterie and he tackled her, laughing all the way as the two of them tumbled into the grassy field. He smiles, seeing her beautiful emerald eyes glimmer with happiness. He threaded one hand through her silver highlighted, chestnut brown hair. Barely noticing that the other Guardians seemed to simply disappear and it was just the two of them, laying together on the field, the night sky above with Manny shining brightly._

_"You're so beautiful Mysterie." He murmurs, looking over at her as they sat side by side. She smiles, her eyes shining with love as she turns to look at him but that changed to fear suddenly as the night suddenly became darker and there were Nightmares everywhere. Jack glances around, eyes wide suddenly when he feels something in his hand. He glances down to find that it was blood and he glances to Mysterie fearfully. She was bleeding and in his other hand was an ice dagger that dripped with her blood. There was fear and disbelief in the emerald eyes that met his._

_"Why?" It was all she said before dissolving into sand, leaving a small puddle of blood and sand behind while Nightmares reared, though none of them attacked._

_"No... what have I done?!" Jack collapses into the puddle, looking at his bloodied hands as the Nightmares nickered, as if laughing..._

Jack tosses and turns, whimpering and shouting out, eventually screaming so loud that he wakes himself up, his breathing is heavy as he looks around at the darkness of the night that reminds him too much of the dream; he pulls his hood up to cover his head, pulling some strands of his hair out.

"What am I gonna do?" Jack whispers despairingly, he doesn't feel that he fit in anywhere anymore; what sort of Guardian was he if he couldn't keep the darkness inside of him in check... who had killed the very person who meant the most to him? It made his heart throb. He didn't know it, but a rather ticked off Sandy was homing in on his location. Sandy is steamed that he's been taken away from the silver sand; in fact he'd made Bunny stand guard over it as he'd gone in search of Jack with Tooth and he'd made sure Bunny would stay too. Although, his anger cools a little when he notices some black sand near Jack. He looks around, but Pitch is nowhere in sight; the Boogeyman had beat it as soon as Jack had awoken. Sandy feels slight concern, is Pitch nearby? It doesn't seem so, but he is still a little ticked at Jack for taking off like that. Depressed or not, Jack needs watching until they could deal with Pitch; he lands in front of Jack, letters forming even as he scowled:

 

I know you're sad Jack, but one.... you should have a bit more faith and two do you even realize how vulnerable you are to Pitch? Did what happen not spell that out for you? Until we deal with him you are to STAY put at the POLE... I have my hands full as it is and here you are running off like a petulant child! I expect you to get back there and STAY there until further notice... is that clear?

Jack nods his head even as tears fell to the ground, the usual sound muffled by the dirt. He stands up and flies up, ignoring the other Guardian as he heads back to the pole slowly, but still a good pace ahead of Sandy. The other Guardian follows him back, sighing slightly; once back he shooes Bunny away from the sand. Bunny gave Sandy a strange look, but the golden Guardian doesn't explain.

"I donno what's up with that... but it's gotten brighter mate." Bunny says before he hops away. Sandy inspects the sand and finds that his friend is right, the sand is glowing brighter than it was before. Jack settles near a window, looking out; thinking only about what he should have done.  _I SHOULD HAVE FOUGHT HIM HARDER!_ He mentally screams at himself. Tooth arrives to try and comfort him when she notices that he seems out of it.

 

 

"Leave me alone!" Jack snaps, but blinks in surprise almost as soon as the words had left his mouth. Tooth flinches, but she doesn't blame him for the outburst, it is too soon for him to have recovered over what had happened the night before. No matter how old she got, the pain of losing someone... even someone who had been a friend and ally for such a short time, is still the same.

"I'm sorry Tooth... I didn't mean to take it out on you... I just..." She gives him a small smile and he turns away from her to look out the window again, ignoring the glowing sand that Sandy seems so interested in and that Bunny had agreed to watch over for... whatever the reason was Jack didn't care. Tooth flutters over to Sandy, who is carefully watching the glowing sand. Bunny doesn't bother glaring at Jack for snapping at Tooth, instead he hops over to the winter spirit, gave his shoulder a quick squeeze in sympathy before hopping off to see if he can't find something to do with North to get his mind off things.

"Sandy, what exactly is this sand?" Tooth asks quietly. Sandy glances up at the question, his silent answer with his own sand has the fairy just staring.

"Why did you collect it then? It's just a painful remi-" She cuts herself off when Sandy's symbols flicker rapidly over his head.

"Slow down, please, I don't think I get all of that." Sandy huffs a little and repeats himself, slower this time. Tooth was silent a good long time, glancing between Sandy and then Jack and back again before speaking.

"You... you really think so?" Sandy nods.

"I hope you're right... for his sake." Sandy nods sadly in agreement. Jack grabs his staff as the two were talking, deciding to get up to do something. He flies out of the room, not straying far as he finds some elves and instantly his mind goes to mischief. He froze a couple solid and stuck them to the ceiling, chuckling only for a moment as it takes his mind off things. The elves that he didn't freeze scatter out of the way, North was checking on a toy design nearby when he froze the elves; he just shakes his head though. A tiny smile on his lips at the sound of Jack's laughter and he decides to let it slide, all things considered; though he would have to get the yetis to get the elves down.... Eventually Jack gets bored and decides to find something else to do. As he was walking along one of the many halls, familiar whispers returned to him.

"It's your fault..." Jack winces as the voice keeps repeating it over and over.

"Please leave me alone..." Jack murmurs and it finally ends with a flash of memory of what he'd done, pain lances through him as it begins its repeat of Jack attacking the Guardians as well as killing Mysterie.

"Just give in..." The voice taunts, Jack gasps because this time the voice sounded like Mysterie. He looks around, tears falling and clinking as they hit the floor, frozen, as he heads back to the room that is his; too tired suddenly to want to be awake. When he reaches the room, he can't help thinking that the room is so empty without Mysterie in it and he falls asleep almost as soon as he lays down, for once his dreams aren't plagued by Pitch's Nightmares as Sandy's sand drifts into the room to give him good dreams.


	11. Revelation

The days drag on and there is no sign of Pitch. Sandy continues to stay at the pole, watching over the sand and sending out dreams. He concentrates the hardest on sending Jack good dreams to help with the pain. It's been three weeks to date and Sandy seems to suddenly bounce up and down with joy as something starts to happen with the sand; he sends out streams of his own sand to call the other Guardians to the room. The sand is now glowing a lot brighter than it has before, as if each grain is a tiny sun. Jack woke from a forced, memory induced nightmare; he looks around and notices the golden dream sand that seemed to beckon him by forming tiny arrows. Jack follows it to Sandy.

"What is it Sandy?" Jack asks, looking at the golden Guardian in confusion, not long after the other three Guardians arrive. Sandy points to the sand on the blanket, excitement on his face as the silver sand that was glowing brightly began to slowly swirl before everyone and just as slowly began to take shape. The others stared, not sure of what they're looking at though among them Tooth is hopeful as she remembers what the golden Guardian had told her earlier when she'd questioned him about it. It's not obvious, at first, but after several minutes it finally finishes gathering. Mysterie hovers a moment a few inches in the air before collapsing, though Sandy makes sure she lands on a gold sand cloud. Jack stares in shock, unable to process what had just happened; it is all too much for him and he collapses before anyone can say anything or do anything. Tooth manages to catch Jack though the other two are just too dumbfounded in shock to say anything for a moment before they began bombarding Sandy with questions after both Mysterie and Jack are settled into a bed to rest. Jack wakes up some several minutes later, groaning in pain; his eyes open but he has to shut them again from the bright light that is the infirmary.

"Why is it I've been finding myself here all the time?" He growls, after a few moments he manages to open them; at first nothing of the last few moments seems to click until it all floods back and he jolts up from the bed with a start.

"Mysterie." He searches the room until his eyes fall on her in a bed a few feet away, not believing that this was real. He shakes his head, voices of doubt seeping into his mind, courtesy of the Boogeyman. Sandy floats over to Jack, beaming a little, sand forming over his head; he was the only one in the room besides Mysterie:

 

I imagine that was quite a shock, the others were surprised too... Are you feeling okay?

Jack looks at the little floating man with disbelief with the question, feeling woozy as he suddenly retches up the contents of his stomach into the garbage can nearby. Feeling better he turns back to the other Guardian with one question.

"H-how i-is this possible?" Jack gestures towards Mysterie, fear evident in his eyes as the whispers returned. Sandy's words floated before Jack:

 

She is a light spirit. They are very hard to destroy. I've had my suspicions, but this confirmed it. They are not a common form of spirit due to their incredible ability to survive most things. Unfortunately the bane of their existence are dark spirits like Pitch, of which there are fewer. 

 

 

 

Jack sighs.

"So, she was a light spirit it and she knew it, but why would she say she was so impure?" Tears sting at the corner of his eyes at the memory of the week before. Sandy frowns, his sand changing to spell out:

 

I don't think she knew and being a light spirit doesn't make her pure in any sense. It is what she is, but not who... Some light spirits are spiteful. They give people sunburns and such. That she could stand holding darkness in her though says a lot about the extent of her power and her heart.

Jack smiles, knowing full well what Mysterie was capable of; hadn't he seen what she could do first hand many times over the years? His head spiked with pain as Pitch's velvet voice spoke inside it.

"Come, Jack. Come back to darkness. You'll like it there. Forget about her, forget about the Guardians." At the moment Jack clutches his head, pain overcoming over his entire body; the one black strip in his hair that remains starts to grow and spread, his white hair slowly turning black; his appearance flashing between normal and the dark puppet that Pitch had made him into.

"N-no... stop..." He is unaware that the mental link to Pitch is still in effect or that Sandy can sense the happiness in Pitch. Sandy presses his hands to Jack's forehead. His efforts only slightly successful as his light can suppress Pitch's influence. He can't break the link, not being a light spirit himself. Tears fall from Jack's eyes as the pain was intense and then finally ebbs to a dull headache with Sandy's interference. Jack looks up at Sandy.

"Thanks." He looks at Mysterie and sighs as he gets up and goes over to her, settling on the edge of the bed as he takes her hand in his, hoping that she can tell how much he loves her. Sandy follows him, nodding with a smile, his sand forming before Jack:

 

It's what friends do.

He then leaves the two of them alone with a look to Jack that said to call if he needed something. Mysterie doesn't respond to Jack's touch aside from a soft, brief glow of her skin before it fades. Hours later found Jack asleep next to Mysterie on the bed, his head resting on her arm, his eyes flickering beneath his lids, indicating that he was dreaming. Sandy made sure that Jack has good dreams. It would be another two days before Mysterie would have the energy to open her eyes. She did so slowly, groaning as she felt like every part of her had been over stretched. Jack is still asleep, dreaming about her; Sandy's golden sand that danced above his head showed sand versions of the two of them dancing around, playing with the sirens and at the end they kiss under the moon; but ever so slowly the dream turns grey and Jack squinted his eyes, muttering under his breath.

"I-I'm sorry... please stop! I-I... didn't mean to..." Eventually the dream turns into a nightmare that ends with a shadow version of Jack smirking in the sand and then the sand trickles down onto Jack like snakes, absorbing into his skin. Sandy does his best to fight the Nightmare, only able to keep the sand from taking over Jack as he sleeps. He fumes a little next to Jack, frustrated that he can't do more; the little Guardian looks over to Mysterie as she stirs. Slowly looking around, Mysterie squeezes the hand that is holding onto hers. Jack slightly stirs, opening his eyes when her hand squeezes his. He looks at Sandy then turns to see Mysterie's emerald orbs staring into his blue ones and all the breath he has escapes him, unable to say anything as guilt slams into him tenfold. Sandy smiles faintly at Jack before discreetly leaving.

"Hey." She says softly. A million things go through Jack's head then, but only one remains and that is the guilt at being even able to be talking to her.

"M-mysterie... I-I'm sorry..." He looks down, tears falling but this time they stay melted as they spill down his cheeks.

"Don't do this to yourself Jack. It's not right or fair." She says quietly, she knew too well he is blaming himself for what had happened; she was no stranger to this feeling. She remembers her past, unlike Jack, and her past was anything but pleasant. As a teenage girl who had tried to end her mortal life more than once... she was no stranger to this feeling. Jack looks at her, shock on his face that she'd seems to have forgiven him so easily, reminding her that he still didn't know the full extent of her past. He squeezes her hand gently, but not strongly and it shows how weak he was feeling; the black stripe in his hair was turning the rest of his hair grey around it, soon to be black the more influence that Pitch put on him, was hard to miss. 

"I missed you. I love you. I'm sorry... I just couldn't live with myself if I hurt you." Jack looks at her.

"... and I did the worst thing you know..." He laughs bitterly.

"I broke the one thing I promised myself I would never let happen." He glances away a moment and when he looks back tears were sliding down his cheeks.

"I hurt you... How can you forgive me when I thought I killed you?" 

"Because it was Pitch. I know you better than that Jack. I know you wouldn't hurt me willingly." Jack turns his head away, the only thing he'd ever done was hurt her. After a moment he turns back to meet her now spring green eyes, Jack stands up; his body trembling from the sobs coming from him.

"I'm so sorry... I didn't mean for any of this to happen - hic - P-pitch s-still whispers to me... he w-won't l-leave me alone..." Jack cries harder, desperately needing someone to hold on to. Mysterie trembles slightly as it takes a lot of energy to push herself into a sitting position, but she does so in order to reach out for Jack and to wrap her arms around him. She was going to be there for him, no matter what that meant.

"I am here for you... when I am strong enough I will make Pitch wish it had been him instead of me..." She growls as she holds Jack close, eventually exhaustion sweeps over him and he lets go of her, falling into the bed with a slight thud.


	12. Purpose

As soon as Jack is asleep the dreams came to him, but corruption destroys them and Jack cries out in pain as the darkness within him moves slowly, trying to corrupt him; more of his hair slowly turning grey before darkening towards black. Sandy looks at Mysterie pleadingly as she holds Jack but she can only shake her head; she did not have the strength yet and he nods in sad understanding before moving to press his hands against Jack's head again to fight off Pitch's influence. Pitch isn't so easily swayed this time and the Nightmares stayed, but his influence leaves for the moment. Sandy looks up helplessly at Mysterie.

"I know... his hold is strong and that you're doing everything you can. When I regain my strength I will need your help to cover my breaking the mental bond Pitch has lassoed him with, it won't do for Pitch to believe I'm still alive... I will need to borrow some of your sand to be sure that he can't tell it's not you who broke it; it will be some time yet though I'm afraid... For now... all we can do is keep him close and fight the influence." Sandy nods sadly, concern in his golden eyes as he looks at Jack who screeches in pain as the dreams became worse and he began thrashing a little, fisting the bed, his knuckles turning white from fighting the dream. Mysterie lightly threads her fingers through his hair, it is the only thing she can do at the moment as Sandy does his best to tangle with the nightmare using his dream sand. The next morning Jack awoke after letting out one last bone chilling scream; his breathing was heavy as his eyes flicker every which way. Mysterie is wrapped around him, her head buried against his hoodie; despite the nightmare she seems to have sunken into a deep sleep. Jack sighs, tired of the nightmares and his lack of sleep wins over; dipping him back into the nightmare, pain hitting him right away as a dark version of himself slams him into a wall, holing him where he wants Jack.

"Just give in, you know you love the darkness. Trust me, this is for your own good Jack." Pitch comments as he is bloodied, battered and bruised by his darker self. Jack looks at the two with blood shot eyes.

"Why?" Pitch quirks an eyebrow.

"Why am I doing this Frost? Well, for revenge my dear frost spirit. Revenge on the Guardians and revenge on you. I'm going to enjoy watching you kill the ones you love. So sit back while you can. Eventually you'll lose and submit to the darkness. It's only a matter of time." He laughs as he fades from Jack's mind while Jack cries out in pain as the dark version of him relentlessly tortures him. Sandy does his best to fight off the darkness, but he can only push and batter it away for short periods of time. Mysterie's own dreams are blank, if only because Sandy is too busy dealing with Pitch's influence to pay her any mind and Pitch doesn't bother, thinking that she's dead. Jack awoke with a cry, his eyes wide and terrified; he looks at Sandy, sighing as the roots of his hair were now slightly gray and one of his eyes was tinged red orange. 

"Sandy, it's getting worse. I can't keep fighting him, it's hurting and I don't think I can keep it up." Jack covers his face with one hand. Sandy gave him a sad smile, words forming as he put a hand on Jack's shoulder; the words floating above him as he waits for Jack to look up and read them, infinitely patient: 

 

You should think of her when it happens, to help make the pain worth bearing... I can only help so much... In a few days time she should have enough energy to sever the bond that Pitch has forced on you... Please... hold on until then... Trust us...

 

 

Jack looks at the words, not saying anything for a while.

"I know Sandy, I'm trying. I'll keep fighting, but I don't know if I can hold on." His left eye that had turned slightly red orange has grown more brilliant orange and his hair isn't as white as it used to be now; it is an ashen gray that was slowly turning black. Sandy gives Jack a sad smile, the sand rearranging itself:

 

I wish I could help you... but this sort of thing is beyond even me... 

His gaze shifts to Mysterie as she shifts in her sleep, his sand shifted again:

 

Only she would have the power to help now... 

Jack turns to her and sighs. _Maybe it's best I leave._ Even in her sleep she can sense his urge to leave, she shifts in her sleep and grasps his hand, not about to let him just leave; even if she isn't awake. Jack froze, tears falling to the floor with a soft 'plink' and Jack gulps, wanting to get out of there so he doesn't hurt her anymore; especially when the dark whispers are getting louder and louder... With a soft sigh, Mysterie turns over, unintentionally yanking Jack down at the same time as she hasn't relinquished her grip on his hand. Jack struggles slightly to get out of her grip and when she rolls over he face plants into her chest on accident; he says something but the sound is muffled.

"Ommmf gwo." (Let go) A giggle drew his attention from the face plant towards the doorway. Tooth is hovering there and she looks guilty, but at the same time she is trying so hard not to outright laugh at his predicament. Jack wiggles a bit, trying to get out of the predicament, but her steel-like grip keeps him there.

"Mmmm nee uf." (Let me up) Jack blushes a bright blue. Tooth's giggles get louder, she simply can't help it; especially when one of Mysterie's arms snakes around him lazily as she rolls back on her back again. It seems like an accident but Tooth nearly fell out of the air in laughter when she saw that Mysterie is awake and Mysterie had winked at her. Jack struggles like a fish caught by a cat ready to eat said fish and Tooth has to land on one of the beds nearby as she is laughing her wings off at this point as she watches him struggle. Mysterie is obviously not letting go any time soon.

"Tiff ifnt fnny." (This isn't funny.) Tooth gasps in laughter.

"No... it's hilarious!" Jack gives her the darkest glare, letting her know that mischief is coming to her fairies and her in a future date. Tooth finally calms down enough to take flight.

"I'll see you later Jack..." She manages between giggles and flies out, Jack hears a soft chuckle and realizes that Mysterie isn't asleep any longer; his eyes dart up to hers, trying to glare, but failing because he's slightly embarrassed and still stuck. Her eyes met his, mischievous mirth in them.

"Now then... just where did you think you were off to, hmmm?" Fear flickers into his eyes as he had forgotten about their bond and that she could sense his intentions and feelings.

"Imf wavnt goingff anwherf." (I wasn't going anywhere) He looks at her pleadingly, hoping that she doesn't punish him for trying to leave. Mysterie shifts a little to let him up enough to talk normally, her eyes softening as she senses his fear.

"Jack... I would never hurt you on purpose. Don't you know that by now?"

"I know, just... I don't want to end up hurting YOU!" He yells in frustration, his emotions to leave and hope that she wouldn't be hurt by it clashes with the emotions that come with staying and taking the chance of being controlled like some mindless puppet. Neither of which seem a better idea than the other. Mysterie shifts to press her lips to his with infinite gentleness to distract his mind; it works as Jack's mind goes blank and he smiles into the kiss before his fatigue catches up with him and he falls asleep on top of her, using her soft chest as a pillow. She smiles as she watches him fall asleep, too concerned for his welfare to be embarrassed as she lightly threads her fingers through his hair.

"I promise I will do what I can to help you Jack... You are everything to me... You are why I am here." She murmurs softly. No one had told her that, it is just what she is sure of in her heart; she is certain that she had been born to be his protector, his friend, his partner... He was her whole world and she would give anything to keep him safe; yes, he had hurt her but she'd known before she'd met him that love could be as hurtful as it was wonderful.


	13. New Tactic

Pitch appears again in Jack's dreams, this time he can't stop the darkness from consuming him and he whimpers in his sleep as his body goes through a drastic change; his hair turns midnight black, as did his clothing, his skin turns gray and paler than normal; he even grows fangs.

"Wake up Jack. Come to me." Jack's eyes open, glowing in the very darkness of the room as he looks at Mysterie, smirking at the power that Pitch has given him. Touching her forehead, he sends a Nightmare into her dreams; the only emotions given to love are causing pain and trouble. Jack smirks as she flinches in her sleep.

"Come Jack. Time is wasting." Jack goes to the window to fly out, instead it zaps him with a magical barrier. Mysterie wakes from her Nightmare, having easily fended it off in her light sleep despite the darkness of it and she smirks a little.

"I'm going to assume you can hear me Pitch... Did you really think we'd make it that easy?" Bunny hops in, flipping the lights on and crossing his arms as the door shuts behind him with a click, automatically locking.

"Figure this'd happen again." His gaze is on Jack who growls as Jack repeats the words that Pitch wants him to say.

"You may have him trapped, but you should know frost spirits don't like to be cooped up; their powers can... how shall we say... get a little unstable." The dark glint in Jack's eyes as tears start to form making it obvious that it was the truth.

"Aye... We know that... which is why that barrier gave him a zap. It's only temporary, but I don't think Jack will have any problems with his powers going bonkers... at least not for a few days. Ya shoulda known better than that after all these years Pitch." Bunny scowls. Mysterie yawns a little.

"Really... you'd think that the Guardians are that stupid?"

"Kinda looks like he does... can't blame a bloke for tryin'." Jack's eyes flashed blue a moment and his hair becomes white a moment as he covers his eyes, falling to his knees.

"No, please stop!" Jack struggles against the control that Pitch has over him, but before he can do anything his body is forced on its own accord to shoot at Bunny, flash freezing anything and everything in his path; eventually fully losing control again, returning to his nightmare form. Jack smirks.

"There's other ways to get free rabbit." Bunny shivered from being shot with a blast, but shook it off.

"Blimey that's cold!" Mysterie yawns again before she succumbs to the darkness of sleep, unable to stay awake.

 

 

"Ya think so frostbite? Give it a go if you think we haven't thought of everything. Your ice magic won't work that well against me, especially not with that suppressing spell. Though the spell on me works well... still cold though." Jack growls, narrowing his eyes and Pitch whispers quietly to him and Jack smirks darkly; neither could know that Pitch had read all about barrier spells and Jack answers mentally.

 _I'll wait for when the time's right._ Jack looks at Bunny.

"Looks like you won this round rabbit. I'll give Jack back, but I'll come back later." After that Jack's eyes return to normal as well as his appearance. Bunny hops over to Jack to keep him stable, yelling for North even as he does so. Jack throws up from the resulting wooziness. Bunny sighs as North came in with a yeti. The yeti moves to clean up the mess and Jack, Bunny hands Jack off to the yeti nurse and went over to talk to North in a quiet tone. Jack groans as a fever sets in his whole body that is agonizing and painful in every sense of the word when it came to being sick. The yeti sets Jack on the bed, warbling in confusion at the two; Bunny turned with a sigh.

"Not much we can do about that mate... Unfortunate side affect... He'll feel like he's got a terrible cold." 

"Not much longer.. da?" North murmurs quietly. Bunny nods.

"Sandy said a day or two more at most... The spell should hold that long... at least... and I can add more back ups since the two are out like lights... Maybe reinforce the field, make it so next time he touches it, the effect will put him to sleep instead..." All the while Pitch listens through Jack on the quiet conversation though Jack couldn't understand, but he could still hear it. Later in the night Jack awoke, changed again, this time he avoids the barrier all together. He listens to Pitch, smiling as he spoke a few words and the area glows then the barrier dissipated only for it to return; this time Pitch snarls and told Jack another spell to dissipate stronger barriers. Jack would need some items, so he lets Jack have control for a while and Jack returns to bed, returning to normal sleep. When morning came, Mysterie was standing at one window, looking out at the snow. She opens the window a little and ran her hand through the snow on the window sill thoughtfully; ignoring how cold it is against her skin, normally it wouldn't be cold, but the fact that it is only impressed upon her mind how weak she still was. Jack wakes up in slight pain.

"ACHOO!" He grabs a tissue from the nightstand next to him and looks around. Unknown to Mysterie, Pitch is using his eyes to see around the area.

"Hey Mysterie." Jack looks at her, thinking only that she was so beautiful, but the whispers still haunt him; repeating over and over "Just die already" and "You don't deserve her." Mysterie smiles as she turns.

"Hey Jack... I have a question for you.... Just something I was thinking about... You can put your magic into any snow right?" Jack looks at her uncertainly, unsure exactly how to answer.

"Uhh... yeaaah..." She picks up a handful and brings it over to him, nothing but curiosity in her gaze.

"How much could you... say... put in this small of an amount?" Jack turns his head towards her, settling his gaze on her a second time, wondering why she was asking that.

"Uh... in a small amount quite a bit." She gave him a sheepish look.

"Bunny and I have this little wager... Ummm... Could you demonstrate for me how much? Baby Tooth will be a witness here." As she spoke, Baby Tooth had fluttered through the open window and was zipping towards the two of them, chirping happily.  _Why?_ Jack wondered.

"Okay, what do you want me to do?" She holds out the handful of snow for him to take.

 

 

"Just put as much as you can into it. I'll take it back to Bunny and use a small bit on an elf to prove you did put power into it." Baby Tooth nods, chirping encouragingly. 

"Okay?" He looks at her awkwardly as he held the snow, trying to put as much magic into the snow as possible; as he did so Mysterie could see the snow glowing and the power slightly draining from Jack; usually it doesn't cause him pain but this time he sits back against a wall in painful exhaustion.

"Okay, I put as much as I could in it." He says, his breathing is heavy and he can barely stay conscious as he closes his eyes. Mysterie catches him before he collapses and manages to get him to a bed as Baby Tooth zips away; Mysterie takes the snow from Jack. When Baby Tooth came back Bunny was with her.

"Um, maybe you should rest a bit." She suggested.

"Got it mate?" Mysterie nods and hands the snow off to him; he grins.

"Good work. Let's go test this on that elf." He gives Mysterie a reassuring look when he notices the guilt in her eyes as she tucks Jack into the bed. He gives her a small smile before hopping off with the snow as she sighs inwardly; she hadn't wanted to lie about getting the snow... but she trusted that Bunny knew what he was doing and that the result would end up helping keep Pitch from getting Jack out. Jake awoke hours later in pain as he fights for control.

"Come now Jack, stop being so defiant. You know you can't stop it, just give in." Jack doesn't stop fighting, he gasps in pain even as he stands up, barely able to hold his own weight; he manages to make it to the door and pounds on it, wanting the Guardians to notice his trouble. Tooth opens the door, fluttering inside; the door snaps shut behind her without her having to touch it.

"Jack? What's wrong?" Mysterie is out like a light again, curled up on the window seat of one of the windows nearby; her breath fogging up the window. Jack struggles to speak, so he uses sign language like Sandy would, although it's not very good at the moment it gets the point across. He pointed to himself then his eyes and hair, showing the inner struggle while trying to keep the pain away which was slowly showing through. Tooth isn't entirely sure she understands exactly what it is that is wrong, but does get the idea that Pitch is behind it.

"I'm sorry Jack... I really wish I could do something, but I'm not the one who specializes in spells. Hang on Jack... It's just for a little while longer... I promise." She said soothingly. At the moment Jack's vision blurs and ever so slowly his eyes turned red orange, he smirks as she hugs him; Jack doesn't remember making the dagger in between the hug and the time, Mysterie wakes up in time for him to almost stab Tooth. Mysterie blinks.

"TOOTH!" Tooth ducks back, but the dagger still grazes her and she flutters over to Mysterie, eyes wide.

"M-mysterie...." She just stares blankly at Jack, her tone quiet as she speaka to the startled fairy.

"Keep calm Tooth. He can't get out. Bunny made sure of that this time."

"Not what I'm worried about..." Jack stupidly flies over to the window, thinking that the night before he'd broken down the barrier only to bounce off it and pain shoots through him. He growls, power emanating from his rage as Pitch has control of him at the moment and Jack can't control the outburst as he found, for the moment, he could only channel a small bit of magic.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!" Jack looks at them at the thought of the of the power he had once had, now he can only make snowflakes.

"Why can't I use my powers?!" His red orange eyes glow in anger, but on the inside he was happy at the lack so that he couldn't harm any of the others, especially Mysterie. 


	14. Showdown

Mysterie yawns, fully woken up by Jack's raging.

"Oh we didn't do a thing to you... Your magic works fine.... which is why you are stuck here actually. I don't think that Pitch counted on the fact that it could be used against you to keep you here." Jack's eyes flash dangerously at her, anger filling the next words that aren't his own.

"You stupid girl, he may not be able to get out but I will." The words didn't make too much sense until there was an explosion and yelling. Jack chuckles, Pitch turning his laughter evil as the glint of darkness leaves Jack and he falls to his knees, becoming himself once more; Jack looks around in confusion wondering what has happened. 

"What happened? What's going on?" Tooth looks horrified a moment before she leaves quickly, leaving Mysterie to get up and go to Jack; her eyes are flashing dangerously, she isn't about to allow Pitch to get Jack. Not again... Pitch is trying to break Jack out, but even though she isn't fully healed enough to break the bond, which would take a considerable amount of energy, she isn't about to let Pitch or his creatures anywhere near Jack. She can still defend herself and she fully intends to defend Jack. Pitch obviously knew that she was alive, but what the Boogeyman can't possibly know is that the burst of Jack's magic that had nearly killed her had all but completely wiped out the darkness she'd been holding back that was Jakul and Shadow. Those two had been so badly diminished that it would be a good while before either would have to be dealt with again; because of this, Mysterie has a lot more power to tap into and Pitch has no idea just how much those two had been draining on her before, with them out of the way now, she can use what power she had been using to keep them at bay to easily fend off the minions he'd sent. Pitch was about to learn that the hard way. Pain hits Jack hard as there is a loud crash and screeches of Fearlings and Nightmares in the workshop. 

"It's Pitch, Jack... he's trying a more direct approach." Mysterie says when she sees his confusion. The Guardians are fighting outside the door on the various levels of the workshop with the yetis and elves to defend the two of them. She can't help but wonder how Bunny's new defense would hold up against both Nightmares and Fearlings; it was mostly designed to keep Jack inside, but it was also so heavily embedded with Jack's magic of joy as well that it was also a defense against Nightmares and Fearlings. Nonetheless, Mysterie is ready to fight against them, more ready than Pitch might believe as the magic that had almost killed her also had nearly wiped out the darkness from her completely; freeing up reserves that would have otherwise been occupied. She might not yet have the strength to break the bond Pitch had forced on Jack - seeing as how much magic that would require - but she had more than enough to defend the two of them. The door strains against the many Nightmares and Fearlings that batter at it, trying to get in to get to Jack who is fighting from losing control of himself all the while. He looks at Mysterie, begging for it all to stop. She winces a little when she meets his gaze briefly, feeling guilty and helpless that she can't just end it as he wants her to. 

"I promise.... they won't get to you. I won't let them take you from me again." She murmurs softly before she turns her gaze back to the door that looks as if it were ready to break any moment now.

"I made the mistake of being lenient to Pitch when I "punished" him before... I won't make that mistake a second time." The door bursts into pieces and Jack winces as a couple pieces hit him as he moves to protect Mysterie from it instinctively.

"Well, that was quite the entrance." A familiar, velvety voice speaks. Jack starts to tremble as the Nightmares and Fearlings surround the two of them, but were paying special attention to Jack; their glowing eyes focusing mostly on him but they don't move much closer; none of them want to tangle with Mysterie, they knew better. Pitch smirks at the fear he senses from Jack.

"Why so sacred, Jack? I thought you weren't afraid of me." Jack looks at him, doing his best to glare at the shade; he isn't afraid of Pitch so much as afraid of what Pitch would do, but he doesn't want to show weakness or fear to the Boogeyman of all spirits. Mysterie glares at Pitch.

"Get out." 

 

 

She was only going to say it once, give the spirit one chance to back down; he could see it in her eyes, but the dark spirit just smirks.

"Sorry my dear, but I've come to pick up my prize." The smirk doesn't leave his face as his gaze flickers from her to Jack.

"Oh, having trouble controlling yourself Jack? Well don't worry, it won't be much longer." Mysterie snarls at Pitch, she's had enough of this. A wolf of silver sand forms next to her and lunges at the shade as she forms twin daggers in her hands to fend off any of the Nightmares and Fearlings around them that dare to come too close... and the look in her eyes as her gaze flickers to them is challenging indeed, as if she is daring them to draw closer to her or Jack and just see if they don't get a taste of her blades. Her eyes narrow as she keeps an eye out for any sudden movement on the part of the Nightmares as well as any indication that Jack is about to lose control. Much as she did have the strength to take on Pitch and his minions, she did not have the strength to fight Jack if he lost control and decided to attack her. Pitch dodges the wolf and summons a Nightmare wolf that takes on her wolf and the two collide only for them both to burst into sand.

"Testy, aren't we?" He snaps his fingers and the next thing Jack knows is a screeching sound in his mind.

"STOP! PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!" He holds his head as he writhes in pain on the floor, Pitch looks at Mysterie with a smug smile. Her eyes darken and she lets out a bitter laugh.

"Oh you haven't seen me mad yet... So quick to forget the nightmares I **gave** you aren't we?" An eagle forms from silver sand, she doesn't want to show just how riled she is from hearing Jack's screams... knowing she is helpless to stop them for the moment; the eagle is followed by jellyfish, sharks and a bear. Jack struggles against the darkness, ice strengthening the creatures that Pitch summoned to fight the ones Mysterie had summoned. The gold sand from the jellyfish that she's summoned has fallen on Jack to combat Pitch's influence even as the creatures clash. A tiger shark in pure gold sand joins the fray as Sandy appears at her side; the other Guardians are not far behind in joining the two to take down the Nightmares. Pitch growls in frustration, making a wave of sand that turns the creatures made by Mysterie and Sandy into Nightmares. Pitch had expected that they would turn on their creators but he was wrong as Mysterie still maintained her control, even taking over control of the dreams turned Nightmare that had belonged to Sandy; the creatures seem to be empowered thanks to Pitch and decimate Pitch's creatures before surging towards him as Mysterie smirks.

"Did you forget that I control Nightmares too?" She hadn't needed to use her ability to do that since she'd been alive. Pitch's eyes go wide, realizing he had forgotten that tiny little detail that had set her apart, even when she had been mortal. She smirks as Pitch is forced back by the Nightmares and the Guardians. A gold whip sending the shade flying out the doorway, the four Guardians and Mysterie stand between Jack and Pitch, weapons aimed at the shade.

"Give it up Pitch. You can't win." She snarls slightly, just to add to the point; and as intimidation a pair of silver sand, feathered wings spread from her back with some small spots of gold and black sand intermingling. Pitch drew himself up in mock fear.

"Oh, what ever shall I do?" He asks before smirking.

"I'll see you later." His eyes meet Jack's and Jack's eyes widen as pain goes through him like wildfire and Jack screams as sand explodes from him as he once more came under Pitch's control; the changes swept over him once more.

"Ta ta for now Guardians. See if you can extract _that_ from Jack." He flees into the shadows as Jack screams in agony. Mysterie waits until Pitch is gone before spinning to Jack and cringing even as she drops to his side and puts him under. Her wings glow pure gold before wrapping around Jack protectively to fight off any nightmares that might come from the dark sand. She doesn't show it, but she is beginning to feel the strain from all that she's done to fight against Pitch. Having been so tired before the last couple of days there is little doubt that she will be tired again soon enough; especially having expended so much energy to protect Jack, but for the moment she is pushing away any feelings of fatigue because Jack is more important and with the rising of the sun once more she knows she will have the power she needs, at last, to sever that cursed bond. 


	15. Power of the Light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own "I Knew You Were Trouble" by Taylor Swift

Mysterie waits until Pitch is gone before she spins around to Jack, she doesn't want to take the chance that Pitch would - quite literally - stab her in the back, which would prevent her from helping Jack; she cringes from the sound of his pain even as she drops to his side and used a handful of golden sand to put him under. Jack quiets for a moment and Mysterie's wings glowed pure gold before wrapping around Jack protectively to fight off any nightmares that the darkness might induce. The silence doesn't last long; however, as Jack begins to screech, even in his sleep and writhe in agony, clawing at his neck and body as if to release himself from an unseen force. Something that only Jack seems to be able to see... or sense... or whatever at this point.

"LET ME GOOOO!" Jack screams out. The Guardians look at the two of them in worry, but they know that none of them can help; as much as they want to... she was on her own. Mysterie trembles as she holds Jack close, praying for the sun to rise soon... Because with it will come the strength she desperately needs to end the bond. She hums softly, tears for his pain slowly slipping past tightly shut eyes as she holds him tight. The tune she is humming is the first thing that had come to her mind, one that she had heard in her younger days but had not heard in a long while. She is so focused on Jack though that she does not realize she is humming the instrumental tune nor that her wings have began to glow softly. Even without the sun's rays she is drawing power from within; power that is fueled by her love for him, her devotion, by her desperate need to do something for him and by a belief that has been in her heart for as long as she can remember, but that has been hidden deep in her heart and all but forgotten about with the recent events of the last five years... She is lost to her surroundings as she holds him tight, pushing all she has... all she is into battling the darkness that Pitch has forced on Jack. She doesn't care what the consequences will be, she just knows that she has to do this. Jack's pain begins ebbing as he hugs her close, as if she is his life line. She just holds him close humming softly a new tune, the name of the song was I Knew You Were Trouble.

_Once upon time_

_A few mistakes ago I was in your sights_

_You got me alone_

_You found me_

_You found me_

_You found me_

 

_I guess you didn't care_

_And I guess I liked that_

_And when I fell hard_

_You took a step back_

_Without me, without me, without me_

 

_And he's long gone_

_When he's next to me_

_And I realize the blame is on me_

 

_'Cause I knew you were trouble when you walked in_

_So shame on me now_

_I flew me to places I'd never been_

_So you put me down oh_

_I knew you were trouble when you walked in_

_So shame on me now_

_I flew me to places I'd never been_

_Now I'm lying on the cold hard ground_

_Oh, oh, trouble, trouble, trouble_

_Oh, oh, trouble, trouble, trouble_

 

_No apologies_

_He'll never see you cry_

_Pretend he doesn't know_

_That he's the reason why_

_You're drowning, you're drowning, you're drowning_

 

_And I heard you moved on_

_From whispers on the street_

_A new notch in your belt is all I'll ever be_

_And now I see, now I see, now I see_

_He was long gone_

_When he met me_

_And I realize the joke is on me_

 

_I knew you were trouble when you walked in_

_So shame on me now_

_I flew me to places I'd never been_

_So you put me down oh_

_I knew you were trouble when you walked in_

_So shame on me now_

_I flew me to places I'd never been_

_Now I'm lying on the cold hard ground_

_Oh, oh, trouble, trouble, trouble_

_Oh, oh, trouble, trouble, trouble_

 

_When your saddest fear comes creeping in_

_That you never loved me or her or anyone or anything_

_Yeah_

 

_I knew you were trouble when you walked in_

_So shame on me now_

_I flew me to places I'd never been_

_So you put me down oh_

_I knew you were trouble when you walked in_

_So shame on me now_

_I flew me to places I'd never been_

_Now I'm lying on the cold hard ground_

_Oh, oh, trouble, trouble, trouble_

_Oh, oh, trouble, trouble, trouble_

 

_I knew you were trouble when you walked in_

_Trouble, trouble, trouble_

_I knew you were trouble when you walked in_

_Trouble, trouble, trouble_

 

Though to her he has never been that kind of trouble, he's been the opposite of the lyrics to the song actually; yes he'd gotten into trouble and there had been nothing but one kind of trouble after the other since she's met him, but he's been a steadfast friend from the get-go and a devoted mate. She isn't going to give him up for anything in the world... He means more to her than anything in the entire world, more than anything anyone could have ever thought to offer her; she isn't going to let him go. He is worth the trouble and so much more... She doesn't notice that the sand wings have dissolved to swirl around the two of them, encasing them in a thin, gold cocoon that is pulsing and warm. All she knows is him, and her fight with the darkness... the pain of the battle and the determination to not lose as she draws it to her bit by bit and purifies it. It is a slow, agonizing process but she is too set on helping Jack to even think of backing down. Jack's body begins glowing golden when the final strand of darkness is pulled from him and purified; he doesn't move, he can barely remember ever feeling this peaceful before, which is what her light has given him.


	16. Dawn

"M-mysterie?"

He asks softly as he pulls back a little to meet her emerald eyes that seem brighter for a moment with her power before it fades and he can see how tired she is by gazing into her eyes. All she can do is smile faintly before she passes out from the exhaustion that over takes her, but not before a flicker of relief also appears in her eyes. _Thank you God..._ It is her last conscious thought before the darkness of sleep overtakes her. The cocoon around them explodes outward as soon as the darkness of sleep steals over her, covering everything around the two of them in golden sand. Jack groans a little, feeling like everything inside him has been turned inside out and then right side in again. He looks around and sees her next to him, the only thing he can say at that moment as the others just sort of stare at the two of them - not that he notices at that moment.

"Thank you." Tooth flutters over to him along with Bunny, the two Guardians pepper him with questions that he barely pays much attention to while Sandy and North make sure that Mysterie is comfortable on a bed. He waves off their questions about his wellbeing. Didn't they get that he was fine now? With a sigh, when asked for the umpth time if he needs anything he turns to look at Tooth and feels a little guilty at the obvious concern he sees in her eyes.

"Um, a chair to sit in would be good. I'm fine, Tooth. Honest." To reassure her he gives her a bit of a smile, he can't deny that he is tired from all the fighting they'd just done and of course the sleepless nights, but somehow he doesn't really feel as tired as he thought he should. Was that an affect of the magic that Mysterie wielded? Could the magic of any light spirit do that? He sighs as he sits down in a chair, concerned; he knows she'd not been at full strength last night. He settles in the chair that Tooth brought him, murmuring a quiet thanks. She asks him if he needs anything else, but Jack just shakes his head with a smile.

 

"I'm just glad this is all over." He says after a moment. He really was.

"Us too." With that said, Tooth leaves the two of them on their own; the other Guardians having left to clean up the mess of the battle that the Nightmares and Fearlings had caused. _Please be okay...._ He thinks as he sits at her side, watching her sleep; he'd just gotten her back after.... He still couldn't think about it without feeling the knife of pain twisting in his heart. It isn't until the sun's morning rays filter into the window and fall over her that Mysterie begins to stir with a yawn. The look of worry in his eyes becomes instant relief at the sight of her yawn. That has to be a good thing. She just has to be okay. He'd just spent the whole night watching over her.

"Mysterie." It is all he says when she stirs. She blinks her sleepiness away, not phased by how bright the sun is as it shines on her, she turns her head towards Jack.

"Morning Jack." Jack grabs her into a hug, hugging her tightly but not too tight.

"God, don't scare me like that!" She blinks in confusion before she wraps her arms around her.

"I think that makes us even." She replies sleepily. Jack sighs as he pulls back to meet her gaze, knowing she had a point there; realizing she had to have been scared badly when he'd been under Pitch's control... that she has been just as scared of losing him as he was of losing her. He leans back towards her giving her a passionate kiss, murmuring between the kiss.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." He was too... he had never meant to scare her like that, no more than she had meant to scare him. She readily returns the kiss with loving passion, lightly threading her fingers through his hair; sighing contently into the kiss, she barely has to think about weaving the magic that she needs to in order to ensure that the bond with Pitch is broken and would stay that way.


	17. Relaxation

Mysterie lounges against a window seat off in thought about recent events and discovering that she is a light spirit; Jack had told her about it the other day and Sandy had confirmed it, telling her what little he knew of them. It was hard to think it was five years ago that she'd made sure that Pitch wouldn't want to leave the "safety" of his lair any time soon and thinking on that made her shudder a little because she had delved into what darkness was still within her and what she remembered from her past that had been dark indeed to "punish" Pitch for his most recent attack against Jack. She hadn't held back this time and had left the shade actually crying... It hadn't been easy to do, but her anger against the shade had helped. She'd done that visit only when she'd been sure Jack was asleep. Jack yawns, stretching on the bed as he began to awaken. A mischievous idea comes to his mind as he fully awakens and sees her staring off out the window. She knows he is awake, since that month she's become even more attuned to Jack than before; how or why that was she doesn't know, but things were as they were.

"Did I ever tell you about my life before we met?" She asks, but when he doesn't answer she turns and raises an eyebrow as he was halfway from the bed to her, catching him in mid-act of trying to pounce on her. She raises an eyebrow higher when he freezes and seems to change suddenly, whistling innocently; she doesn't buy it though and shakes her head, her lips twitching in amusement.

"You didn't answer my question." Jack turns back to her and shakes his head no to the question.

"No, you haven't told me much about your life." He had only seen a glimpse of it from the little bits that she had revealed to him over the past few years. She settles back thoughtfully against the window sill.

"Where to begin? Hmmm, at the beginning I suppose is a good place. I was born in a rural town, the flight capital of the world in the flat plains of Kansas. I had a good life, for the most part, like most kids my parents were divorced before I could even talk. My life didn't change for the out-of-the ordinary until I was six years old... I think that's when it all began... I'm a little fuzzy on the age... but I won't ever forget that night... I was sick with something, but it was the first time I had a vision, one of the few times I would." Her eyes glaze over a little as she remembers time past that wasn't that long ago and yet it seems, to her, like a lifetime ago. Like it was someone else's life - in a way - instead of her own. She seems lost in thought a moment before she speaks again.

"Mmmmm... Before I forget. My real name... er... that is to say, the name I was born with... is Kari. My friends from a website I frequented called me Mysterie since they didn't know my real name. ... I had other various names too, I used to be into a lot of different websites when I was a teenager... um, despite my appearance I... uh... wasn't as young as I looked when I died." She flushes slightly, wondering if he would ask how old she had been; not that she was embarrassed about her age so much the fact that no one ever got it right when they guessed...

"So... how old are you really?" 

"Well, when I died I was 30... so if I were still human I'd have turned 35 last month." She replies, thoughtful; wondering what else she hasn't told him about herself that he might want to know... although if he thought of something she didn't then he could alway ask too... Jack sits cross legged on the edge of the bed, he seems thoughtful a moment himself before he thought of something he did want to know about her.

"Who was your friend you were talking about before I met you?" 

"His name was Alex. He was seven years younger than me and we met on an Internet forum about a shared interest. At the time we met, I was 20 and I was heavily into Star Wars... I imagine you've at least heard of those movies if not seen them. Like me, he had an ability to walk on the dream plane... He wasn't adept at it though and I taught him a few things so he wouldn't suffer the trials I went through before I could defend myself." She shudders a little, remembering too well what she had gone through before she had figured out what she could do, where she had gone and how to fend off the darkness that dwells so frequently there. Jack sighs.

"Wow, really?" She nods.

"I was quite the nerd." He thought about what she'd said, unsure what to ask her next. After a moment, she speaks again.

"Although, to be honest, I was a bigger nerd for the video game series of Pokemon right up to the very end." His eyes widen, he knew all about that game! 

"Seriously?! High five!" Instead of giving him one though she laughs, surprised he seems to think that was the best thing she'd told him yet.

"Sadly, I never had enough money to take on other trainers to prove myself a Pokemon Master." There was a moment of silence before she voices her thoughts aloud again.

 

 

"Let's see.... I didn't have a favorite color until I was seven or eight and it was sky blue." 

"Hmmm, I can see that." 

"I have my mom to thank for that. Despite being absent from most of my life. She was too irresponsible to take care of herself let alone me or my brother. Technically half. I grew up learning morals mostly from TV since my father was so busy working to raise me... I had no real friends until late elementary and the person I picked to be my best friend barely saw me as a friend... it broke off in middle school when the friends she chose over me blatantly told me they didn't want me around..." She pauses a moment before going on.

"I didn't have a friend again after that until my late college days. By that time I was bitter towards the human race in general and had only a select few I trusted to be myself around. I could count on one hand how many people I trusted that much. I'd lost my faith in people until I met Alex..." She smiles a little.

"I think you would like him. He was a lot like you when we first met and he still was when I last spoke with him..." She couldn't help feeling a little sad at the reminder of the friend she had left behind with her death five years before. Jack shakes his head a little as he thought about what else he could ask.

"I think that sums up most of it." She says after a long moment, there were a few things she hadn't spoken of... namely the men she had loved in her life before she had met Jack; she wouldn't speak of them unless he asks, because she honestly didn't like to think about them, each which had left a deep scar on her soul and had made her bitter those years before she had met Alex, the young teen who had become her best friend; who had seemed to be born to be her friend and had mended the wounds of her soul. Shaking away those thoughts her eyes dart to a wall clock.

"Hmm... I should probably get some work done today... any snow plans for today?"

"Nope, I'm free today." 

"Ah, lucky you. Although I suppose I don't need to leave to grant wishes.." Silver sand swirls idly around her left hand, which she holds before her, in a semblance of a ball. Small strands float off while others seemed to turn black; some were gold and she squished in her hand any of the black ones she found though a few of the strands that seemed to be colored in varying shades between silver and black she let go with some of the silver and gold strands. Each strand was a wish that someone was making at that moment, those she crushes were wishes she did not grant; those that swirl around her hand were wishes that were waiting for her to grant or destroy them and those that she let go were the wishes she grant. Jack smiles a little as he watches her in what looked like something Sandy would do although he was sure that whatever it is she is doing it had nothing to do with dreams since she isn't the Guardian of Dreams. Jack looks around the room as a thought struck him, something he was hesitant to give voice to and guilt racked him as his eyes went back to Mysterie as he stutters a little to voice the question that he feared the answer to and at the same time, he knows he needs to know.

"W-what w-was I like under Pitch's control?" The sand that was swirling around her hand drops a little and nearly vanishes altogether before she regains control of it again. She'd been caught off guard by the question.

"Well.... that depends on which time you mean." She replies, her tone thoughtful. 

"It wasn't consistent exactly..." Although the Guardians might argue that, she had noticed that he'd been different after he'd blasted her with his power; it was something she'd picked up on, perhaps only a minute difference that maybe only she'd noticed because of her bond to him, but then again she didn't think he'd really been the same since Pitch had forced him to "do away" with her. Then again... both had thought that Jack had succeeded in doing so. She couldn't blame Jack for not being the same after that, sure he hadn't actually killed her, but just thinking that he had... that left a sort of wound on someone that was worse than just killing someone out of revenge as she had... There was little doubt in her mind that it would be some time before he fully recovered from that. Pitch had done a number on Jack with that order and she knew well that his heart and mind would need many years to completely heal. It doesn't seem like he's been deeply affected, but she could sense it even if Jack doesn't show it on the surface or even allows himself to think about it. Jack gulps.

"I meant what was I like in the beginning... when he took me with him." He twiddles his thumbs. 

"Like..." She hesitates a moment, thinking a moment if she should really tell him, but no... it wasn't as bad for him likely as it had been for her...

"A puppet." She lets out a shaky breath, her mind transporting her back to that time... putting her back in Pitch's lair and the moment her eyes had met the red orange that Jack's had been... 

"It was... horrifying... to say the least. The look you gave me..." She shudders.

"I don't think I will ever forget it." She'd had nightmares about that look many times during the first couple of months, but she hasn't told anyone. Jack lowers his head.

"I don't know what to say but I'm sorry." Tears clink as they hit the floor at the revelation. Mysterie nearly sighs, Jack has no reason to feel guilty or sorry; it wasn't like he had willingly joined Pitch. She gets to her feet and goes over to him; she wraps her arms around him, she hated seeing him cry. 

"You don't have to say anything Jack. The darkness Pitch used... anyone would be hard pressed to fight. You did all you could and that's all that matters." Jack can feel the comfort she is emitting over the bond and took some comfort in her arms and the feel of her love. He presses his lips to hers, wrapping his arms around her before pulling her onto the bed with him; causing her to land on top of him against his chest. He wasn't what anyone would call athletic, never would be, but his muscles were still fit and she couldn't help noticing this when she fell against him with a small, surprised yelp. She smiles a little, snuggling happily against rock hard abs, unaware that her cheeks heat a little as she did so; she was acting a little like a love-struck teen... something she'd never had a chance to act like, but she doesn't care one bit. Jack smirks a little, sliding his hands along her back in feather light touches. She shifts to meet his gaze, a slight smirk tugging at her own lips even as she tosses away the first thought that comes to her mind, it wasn't likely going to be a good idea to tease Jack about loving her just for any part of her... at least not yet... she threads her fingers lightly through his hair, instead saying with a look that made it obvious she wasn't serious one bit.

"I'm jealous, your hair is always so soft... you simply MUST tell me your secret..." While she is kidding around, his hair is as soft to the touch as the snow he created. Jack chuckles.

"It's called rain water." He chuckles again.

"As well as a little primping from Tooth's fairies." She gives him a fake pout, delighting in the sound of his laughter.

"No fair... I couldn't get those fairies to do my hair even if I bribed them... although what I'd give them I've no idea..." He kisses the fake pout away, one hand playing with her hair much as Tooth's fairies did with his at times; he starts to braid her chestnut locks, inwardly taking small delight in the silver interwoven in it. Mysterie returns his kiss chastely, but she couldn't help giggling a little when he'd starts braiding her hair though the gleam of her eyes shows that she is a little impressed he would even know how to do such a thing. Jack seems amused at the look she is giving him.

 

"You learn a lot in 300 years." He says as he continues braiding it, icing it so that the braids he's done would stay and then he makes a ice hand held mirror and hands it to her so she can look at herself. She twists her head about to look at each braid with a smile.

"I imagine so, but I can't imagine why you would think of learning to braid of all things." She says thoughtfully.

"Nevertheless, you're better than I am at it... and that is saying something dear. Considering I learned how to braid on Barbie dolls when I was younger. Probably one of the few girly things I had." She gives him a mock glare.

"And don't you ever tell anyone I ever had those dolls...." She spoils the glare though with a grin, she honestly doesn't care who knows; seeing Jack put up his hands in surrender makes her laugh though. The two of them are so focused on one another that neither notices that what seems to be two of Tooth's fairies have perched on the window and are sitting on the edge of the sill, listening to the two of them; had the two noticed them they wouldn't have thought too much about the fairies who sometimes visit even when Tooth is elsewhere, particularly because they were in love with Jack's teeth. Their green eyes are a lot brighter than what one normally saw for Tooth's fairies; however, and they are listening quite intently to what the two are saying and taking mental notes on how the two were acting... Watching the two as if they were the most interesting living creatures... their eyes gleaming slightly with a power that hasn't been seen for over 200 years... 

 


	18. Carving Contest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don't own "(You Drive Me) Crazy" by Britney Spears

Mysterie laughs in spite of herself when he puts his hands up in surrender, Jack smiles.

"I promise I won't tell anyone about your dolls." After a moment of companionable silence he speaks again.

"So, what do you wanna do today?" She rolls over so that she can lay next to him, her head propped on one hand as she meets his gaze thoughtfully.

"Hmmm... not sure. Why don't we just do something you'd enjoy doing?" Jack thought about that a moment, there were a lot of things that he enjoyed doing but which one to choose? She raises an eyebrow in amusement when she doesn't get an immediate answer; wondering if there were  _that_ many things that he liked to do.

"Um... well... I am not really sure that I can pick just one..." He begins as he meets her gaze after a moment.

"Hmmmm, well... what did you do before you met me then?" Jack casts his mind back to the past, it was sort of hard to remember those times when he hadn't had her ... or Jamie... or the Guardians... Well okay, he spent most of his time with Jamie... While he was off in thought her mind began to wonder how she's managed to live so long without having known Jack. Her lips twitch into a small smile, remembering how she had spent the last three years of her life hoping just to get a glimpse of him.... Never would she have imagined that she would be so fortunate as she was now to have more than just that. 

"Er... I spent most of my time with Jamie... That was before I caught a cold... and then you came along..." He trails off, breaking into her thoughts. She considers what he said a moment before something pops into her head. Mysterie has no idea where the idea had come to her from but since Jack wasn't offering any ideas it was better than nothing.

"I have an idea. How about an ice carving contest?" The next thing that she wonders was why in the world a song from her past was suddenly playing in her mind. The song was called (You Drive Me) Crazy, it had been popular when she'd been younger... although as it plays in her mind she couldn't help but grin a little because there was a bit of truth in it when it came to Jack....

 

_Baby, I'm so into you_

_You got that somethin', what can I do?_

_Baby, you spin me around_

_The earth is movin', but I can't feel the ground_

 

_Every time you look at me_

_My heart is jumpin', it's easy to see_

_Lovin' you means so much more_

_More than anything I've ever felt before_

 

_You drive me crazy, I just can't sleep I'm so excited, I'm in too deep_

_Oh, crazy, but it feels alright_

_Baby, thinkin' of you keeps me up all night_

_Oh, oh_

 

_Tell me, you're so into me_

_That I'm the only one you will see_

_Tell me, I'm not in the blue, oh_

_That I'm not wastin' my feelings on you_

 

_Loving you means so much more_

_More than anything I've ever felt before_

_You drive me crazy, I just can't sleep I'm so excited, I'm in too deep_

_Oh, crazy, but it feels alright_

_Baby, thinkin' of you keeps me up all night_

 

 _Crazy, I just can't sleep,_ _I'm so excited I'm in too deep_

 

_Crazy, but it feels alright,_

_Every day and every night_

_You drive me crazy_

 

 _You drive me crazy, baby,_ _I'm so excited, I'm in too deep_

_Oh, crazy (you make me feel alright)_

_Baby_ _thinkin' of you keeps me up all night_

_You drive me crazy (you drive me crazy baby) yeah_

 

_Oh, crazy (you make me feel alright) but it feels alright_

_Baby thinkin' of you keeps me up all night_

_Baby thinkin' of you keeps me up all night_

 

 

 

Jack thinks about it a moment.

"Sure, I'll make the ice." He smiles as he makes two large blocks of ice and then he floats off out of the room to ask North for a couple sets of chisels. Mysterie sits on the edge of the bed, waiting for Jack to come back. She doesn't notice the "fairy" that follows Jack or the one that is watching her. Jack smiles when he flies through the halls heading back to Mysterie with the ice picks and chisels, oblivious to the "fairy" that is following him back to the room, a smile on its tiny face as they haven't even been noticed yet; these were the perfect disguises. Mysterie contemplates what to make out of ice as she waits for Jack to return, several ideas came to mind but are quickly discarded.

"I'm back." Jack says when he returns to the room.

"Do you know what you're going to make?" She asks with a curious smile.

"Definitely." He replies, returning her smile.

"Ah... well you're ahead of me the-" She stops when she noticed the "fairy" hovering behind Jack's shoulder.

"Wait... Hey little tooth... will you be my model?" The "fairy" chirps happily, nodding her head enthusiastically.

"Great! Um.. just find any place you like to perch then." The little "fairy" hovers over to Jack and settles on one of his shoulders. Jack can't help but smile at her before he begins to work on his own; Baby Tooth often sat on his shoulder as did some of the other of Tooth's fairies that were brave enough to get close. Very few took the time to socialize, but this one obviously was emulating its sister in that it had wandered off from its normal duties to see him; that wasn't so unusual either so he doesn't think anything of it and neither did Mysterie nor did either think anything of the little "fairy" when it blushes when Jack smiles at her. Mysterie was too intent on looking at the details of her model before she sets to work on her own block, having taken her set of tools from Jack. She starts with a vague outline and once she'd manages what looks like a terrible outline of the little "fairy" she sets to carefully smoothing the shape out so that it looks more and more like her. Jack finishes before her, he stands still as he waits for her to finish; he smiles a little when she sticks her tongue out at him when she catches him watching her and realizes that he is already finished; the little "fairy", the ice was starting to look more and more like her... if she had a light bulb for a head. Mysterie rolls her eyes when she sees Jack's expression before she goes back to her work again, a small smile tugging at her lips; she works on detailing the work to look more like the little "fairy" now, carefully reshaping the various parts of the body and then working on the minute details. She glances at the "fairy" every now and then as she works on the minute details of the feathers, but as she continues to work she has an almost life-like replica for her trouble... granted it's not perfect and the nose is a little bigger than it should be.... but the details on the features and eyes make it look like it's about to take flight. Once she is done she takes a step back from her carving.

"We should probably get North to do the judging. I will go get him." Before Jack could agree she was out the door to find the Guardian, not noticing that it's the second "fairy" that follows her out. Jack looks at the finished carving she's done before going back over to his own carving and giving it a closer inspection, it was a life-like wolf statue; he circles it as if looking for flaws in his work, unaware that the "fairy" has moved from his shoulder to watch him. The fairy stares at him intently with narrowed eyes, though the expression becomes innocent the moment the door opens and Mysterie steps in with the Guardian of Wonder who seems to be grinning as the two of them walk in.

"So, I figured you'd be the best judge... I mean, you do carvings like this all the time don't you?" Mysterie was saying to North as they enter the room.

"Da! Am peaked you choose me to judge! Now, let me see these carvings of yours." Jack turns at the sound of the other Guardian's voice.

"Hey North, thanks for coming to judge." Jack smiles and hops up onto his staff to balance on the edge, still oblivious to the "fairy" who continues to watch him.

"Glad to do it Jack!" The Guardian grins at them both before moving over to study the carvings. Mysterie watches a moment as North seems to study her carving first; going over every detail of it, a thoughtful look on his features before he moves over to Jack's. While North was studying the detail on her carving, Mysterie moves over to stand by Jack and studied his carving; a few moments later North came over to do the same and she turns from it as a mischievous thought suddenly came to mind. She pokes his staff with a finger, just hard enough to make it wobble ever so slightly, but not enough to tip him completely off balance... Unaware that the two "fairies" now perched on the window sill seem to be studying the two of them as intently as North studies the ice carvings. Jack turns to her with a smile as he waits for North to say who is the best; when he glances over to the "fairies" the two seem to be conversing with each other in quiet chirps, but nothing he could interpret. Mysterie grins at Jack in return when she sees his smile, but turns to North when the other Guardian spoke up.

"Is tough to say... both have skill. Jack is no surprise, eh? But did not know you would have any skill in such." Mysterie shrugs.

"I had some minor interest in art when I was younger and sculpting ice is kind of like sculpting with clay, in a way."

"If had to say... I say you both tie... but I am thinking that you mean to know who has better skill no?" Mysterie wonders about the gleam in the Guardian's eye, but she nods nonetheless. Jack smiles, yawning a little; for some reason he felt more drained than usual for having made the ice blocks.

"Hey, I'm going to take a nap. I'll see ya later." He hops to the floor, twirling his staff before leaving the two before either could really say anything; neither noticing that one of the "fairies" follows him to his room. The three sets of eyes watch him go before North went back to detailing each carving for Mysterie. The "fairy" watching her yawns, bored by all of this, but watches her reaction as she patiently listens to North's explanations before he finally admits that while her carving was good... it was not as good as Jack's yet and she just smiles a little at the explanation and nods, the Guardian of Wonder then went back to his work. Mysterie decides to go play with some of the finished toys; the "fairy" that had been watching her doesn't follow this time, instead it zips about the workshop in search of Jack's room to go talk to the other... Knowing the two of them wouldn't likely find a more opportune time to make the switch... All they had to do was keep the two apart, which meant getting one of them to leave the pole...


	19. Replacements

Jack turns in his sleep, but despite being tired he finds that he couldn't just fall asleep; he feels like he is being watched as he looks around the darkened room, he'd closes the curtains to keep the day's light out so he can get in his nap. 

"Come on Jack, you can't be afraid of the darkness now. You beat the darkness." He sighs and lays down again on his side, unaware of the "fairy" that is hiding behind a shelf in the darkness. Moments later it came out as a small movement in the darkness announces the arrival of the second "fairy," the two could see each other in the darkness as if it is day and they use hand signals to communicate with one another without alerting Jack; it was a form of communicating that was they only way their race had to communicate when hiding from humans and it was known only to them.

 

_No better time then now to make the switch brother... Once he is asleep I will stay here with him in her place. I can hardly wait!_

The other fairy gives her a stern look.

 

**Calm yourself, remember who you are portraying! Do not let your excitement show too much or you will blow our cover!**

She rolls her eyes.

 

_I know... I know.... anyway, as soon as we're sure he's asleep we can get this show on the road!_

The other "fairy" shakes his head at her, how she - a changeling, could like a WINTER spirit of all things is beyond him... but at least he could use her infatuation to put his plan into motion... She really doesn't care one way or the other what happened, but when he'd told her of his plan to get rid of the Guardians by separating the two most powerful members... She'd happily gone along when he'd mentioned it meant she could be with Jack... She'd been too happy actually. Well, he knew he could count on her to do her part. They'd been doing their studying for weeks now, she was right. There was no more perfect time than now... Just how could he draw her out of the pole? That would take some thinking on his part... Unlike Jack, Mysterie had no real other place to go... which was why she'd spent most of her time at the pole. that and the fact that she doesn't leave really to fulfill her purpose of granting the disgusting mammals their wishes...  Jack talks a bit in his sleep, turning this way and though until he finally settles and begins snoring. The two "fairies" flutter to the floor, one nearly swooning over Jack; the other rolling its eyes. In the darkness they shift shapes, the one that took Jack's form heads out to find Mysterie while the other who looks like Mysterie moves to curl up against Jack happily, feigning sleep as she waits for him to wake up.

 

Jack turns in his sleep, hugging what he thought might be his staff but was actually the changeling; who merely smiles. Jack didn't awake again until the next morning and when he does he rubs his eyes and shifts to try and get up only to be pulled down by a pair of arms that are hooked around him. He turns his head to see the changeling who looks like Mysterie; not having any reason to doubt that it was her, he kisses her forehead.

"Hey cuddle money, came to sleep with me last night huh?" He smiles mischievously. She grins at him in response.

"Of course." Jack smiles as he got up.

"Well, I'm going to see if North needs any help with anything." Jack opens the door, heading towards the globe room to see if the Guardian was there.

"Sounds like a good idea to me, I don't have any plans for today." She smiles and follows him to the globe room, hoping that her brother Chole had managed to get Mysterie away from the pole... Not sure if she can convince Jack to leave for the moment as she couldn't think of a good reason. This was going to be a little tougher than she'd thought... 

Meanwhile, Mysterie was chasing after a ball in the ball room, elves were watching her with a grin as she tries to clean up the mess they'd made in the room by setting off all the balls bouncing about. She had gotten all of them back into place save for one that was rolling away from her.

"I donno how North puts up with you..." She mutters under her breath. Once she'd caught the wayward ball, the elves let out a cheer as if she's done them some great service or something as she set the ball with the others of like color and nearly sighs aloud. Why had she thought it was good idea to allow North to send her to help the elves with the balls? The changeling that had turned into Jack came up behind her and with a smile, tapping her on her shoulder. When she turns, returning the smile, he makes motions of impromptu sign language that he can't talk because he'd hurt his throat, but also that he wants her to follow him. She gives him a funny look, wondering how he'd hurt his throat without her noticing really before shrugging it off and thinking that maybe it had happened in his sleep and that had been why she hadn't felt that he was in any sort of pain. He flies out of the shop and she follows, he begins to lead her on a wild goose chase to no where in particular. She chases him about the globe without much thought, wondering what he was up to and if he'd just wants to show her something perhaps.

Back at the North Pole, Jack searches the globe room looking for North, unaware that moments before Mysterie had just been ditched by the changeling in his form while the changeling in her form had left to "find Sandy" for something. Jack smiles as he stared at the golden glowing globe, noticing that there were even more believers in the world now, many of which were new lights for belief in him thanks to Jamie and his friends... and of course Sandy who had sent dreams of him and snow days. The changeling hadn't find Sandy and so she'd returns to the globe room.

"I donno where he went.... I looked in all the rooms I could think of. Maybe he's off giving children dreams. Come to think of it... I haven't seen Tooth or Bunny either... Guess they went off too." She hadn't been actually looking for the dreamweaver, she'd met up with her brother briefly in one of the empty rooms to compare quick notes. Thinking about what he's told her that she should do now, she stares up at the lights on the globe, thoughtful... Wondering what will happen to all those lights without the Guardians; she was unaware that each light is a child who believes and could only think that it looks pretty. 

 

 

Mysterie laughs a little as she searched for "Jack," thinking it was just a game as she wanders through a forest in search of him. After a while she becomes a little confused, not seeing any sign of him; glancing around thoughtfully, she begins to wonder where he could have gone. The further she wanders through the forest the more confused she starts becoming. After what seems like forever, she begins to worry... Something seemed... off. She wasn't sure how to explain it and so she summons some sand to head back to the pole, confused and worried at the same time.

Meanwhile back at North's Workshop... 

"Well, I'm gonna go ice some elves." He says, laughing all the way, unaware that the real Mysterie is missing and that the changeling in his form is readying to take him down. Chanda, the changeling in Mysterie's form, smiles and follows; she feels bad about what she knows her brother plans to do and her part in it as she follows Jack. Knowing that Chole would choose a different form so that he wouldn't realize that changelings have infiltrated the place... She changes forms as well, as there was no one else around besides them... choosing to become Tooth just to make the deception all the more real... Jack turns to see Tooth behind him as he finishes icing a few elves, but not even the elf that had taken off running could escape his clutches. He smirks at his work before speaking.

"Oh hey Tooth! What's up?" Even as he asks as much he was unaware of all the problems that his doppleganger was causing with three of the other  Guardians. North was the most shocked, wondering why Jack would do such a thing to all the toys that he'd prepared for that year, which are either broken or buried in snow. 

"Tooth" glares at Jack, hating to have to do this because Jack was just so cute... but she'd promised Chole she'd do her part and she was going to.

"Honestly Jack, freezing elves? I thought you were past that! Not to mention all the snow in Bunny's Warren! He's furious!" Jack turns back to her, wondering why she is so mad about him freezing elves like he always did.

"Uh, Tooth... I usually do this... is something wrong? And I haven't been anywhere near the Kangaroo's den." He taps each of the elves with his staff, unfreezing them; he winces slightly because it was internally hurtful for him to unfreeze something. She crosses her arms.

"Tell him that." Bunny emerges from a tunnel covered in snow and hopping mad - no pun intended - from the looks of things.

"What the 'ell has gotten into ya mate?!" Jack's eyes go wide in shock.  _But I didn't do it though..._ He thinks a moment before a smirk crosses his face, figuring this had to be a prank on him.

"What is this? Getting me into trouble with Tooth, Kangaroo." Jack leans on his staff, unaware of the glare he is getting from North who has come up right behind him.

"You have explainin' to do." North says and "Tooth" shifts to stand behind the angry Bunnymund for a moment, she waits to be sure that the two angry Guardians are only paying attention to Jack and that the frost spirit is not looking her direction before she quickly disappears into a nearby room; flinging open a window she turns into a falcon to fly off to meet her brother in a spot that they've previously agreed upon... Leaving Jack to deal with the two angry Guardians only to nearly be bowled over in the air by Sandy who is rushing past her to get to the workshop. The only Guardian who hadn't been hit by "Jack" yet is Tooth as they'd agreed that Chanda should take the fairy's place... Making the other three Chole's targets.

 

 

Jack looks around nervously, wondering what he's done to get the two so mad at him all of the sudden; all week all he's done is make Bunny's fur turn ice blue as a minor prank, but not make it snow at all.... Okay, maybe a couple clumps of snow just to get on North's nerves, but not much and why would the Guardian think that he'd done it? Maybe it had been the elves, they were rambunctious enough... Jack stands his ground, glaring at the two.

"It wasn't me for sure, all I did was add a little blue to Bunny's fur and nothing more. North are you sure your elves didn't go on a toy spree because they are quite rambunctious." He looks at the two, daring either to make the first move in counter to his words.

"Preposterous!" Bunny shoots back with a hot glare.

"I saw you leave!" North retorts angrily, neither noticing the golden Guardian who has joined them now, arms crossed and looking just as mad as the other two. Symbols over his head rapidly flaring... Something about freezing dream sand... it was all Jack could make out and he was obviously just as ticked about it as the other two were about their accusations. Mysterie arrives at the pole to see the commotion, confusion written all over her face.

"What's going on here?" Jack's mind was spinning and he can't come up with a decent answer to the three as they yell and bicker as much with each other now as with him though he tries to get a word in, but is unsuccessful. He covers his ears eventually as he can't take it anymore.

"WILL YOU ALL SHUT UP!" The wind slams the windows open, shoving the three Guardians back from him, nearly sending Sandy into Mysterie who hadn't gotten close to the group yet; ice covered the floor around him as he heaves heavily, trying to control his emotions so the wind didn't do anything worse as tears prick at the corner of his eyes.

"I don't know what you're talking about!!! I don't! I didn't do any of that!!!" He squeezes his staff tightly and leaves them behind to clear his mind and calm down, knowing that something worse might happen if he doesn't. Mysterie blinks in utter confusion as she watches Jack leave... It is obvious he is upset, she could sense it and she winces when she sees that the trio of Guardians were glaring after Jack; she rounds on them, her confusion making her angry now.

"Alright... Someone better start talking and FAST... What the H-E-L-L just happened?!" The three wince, shifting their attention to her as she crosses her arms, staring them down; she taps her foot as she waits for one of them to give her an answer.

Meanwhile, in a remote forest...

Chandra returns to looking like Mysterie, just because she could; she easily spots Chole who still looks like Jack, but she could tell it was him due to the way he was standing now. She'd know the difference even if the two stood in the same pose side by side, she knew Jack after all almost as well as she knew her own brother.

"So far so good brother dear... Three of the four were sure steamed at him... but what do you plan to do with that light spirit? She's bound to get suspicious sooner or later... I mean... She knows him as well as I do. You can't just keep ditching her every day.. although if you keep her "busy" tomorrow I think I can pull off some mischief as her and get the Guardians to mistrust them both... maybe even kick them out of the North Pole..." She isn't sure if Chole would go for that, but it was worth a shot if he didn't have any other plans for dealing with Mysterie. Chole turns to her.

"No, we just need a little extra power. I am thinking we could just use Jack. I can't keep playing as him forever anymore than you can her forever. We'll have him get pissed enough at the Guardians to destroy them himself in anger; I will need to lead them away from there homes to where Jack is afterwards... Don't worry about the light spirit, she'll be out of the way soon." He smiles darkly and Chanda nods.

"I can do that... Although it'd be tough... I trust you to take her out of the picture. I think I'll start with the rabbit since he seems to have the hottest temper of them all..." Chole nods in agreement before flying off to take care of Mysterie and put his plan into motion.


	20. Winter's Wrath

Jack feels the tears slowly slip from his eyes, unable to believe that the Guardians would turn on him again like this; not letting him explain anything... just as they hadn't years before when he had first met Mysterie... Wind and ice weave around him as he is blinded by the feeling of sadness and betrayal, he barely even notices he's passed by Jamie's new home that the 21 year old had recently moved into; he looks up as Jack all but flies right past him, a blue blur though Jamie doesn't miss the sound of his friend crying and he'd know Jack's voice anywhere. Jack lands on his pond, exactly near the spot that he had fallen through when he had died. He falls to his knees, sobbing openly; he doesn't look up or respond to anything. He just sobs until he has nothing left inside him to cry.

"I-i'm sorry..." He repeats under his breath over and over again, not even sure what he is apologizing for anymore. Wondering what could be up, Jamie follows Jack to the pond that he knows so well from his childhood; having heard his friend's distress... It tugs at his heart; after all, Jack was his very best friend even to this day... 

"Jack?" He asks when he finally arrives at the frozen pond, he slowly moves forward across the ice; careful not to fall on the slick surface as even after years of practice he knows that he could still fall on the slippery surface. He is worried about his friend though.

Back at the pole Mysterie has raised an eyebrow at the trio of Guardians, having listened to what each of them had to say.

"Do you even hear yourselves?  _None_ of this sounds like Jack... but I have to admit, I lost sight of him for a while when he led me on a chase earlier... I donno... This just seems... strange. I mean... have any of you ever known Jack to do this on purpose? And don't bring up that blizzard Cottontail... we all know that was an accident." Mysterie can sense Jack's emotions from where she is and she knows that there is destruction to come in the immediate future.  _Oh no...._ It is all she could think and she knows that she needs to get to Jack before the shit hits the fan... 

Meanwhile, in a forest clump a fair ways from Jack's pond, Chandra watches her brother leave before transforming into the Spirit of Easter and bounding away; heading towards Jack's pond to see if he was there, knowing that it was one of the few places Jack goes when he wants to be alone. When she arrives there; however, she hesitates when she notices that Jack isn't alone... a human is making his way across the ice towards him. Surprisingly an adult... She remembers hearing about Jamie from her brother and about how the human could mean trouble, because he isn't an ordinary human, and she decides that this human must be him and so she waits to see what will happen. Jack hiccups, his head is down, hood pulled up as he pulls his knees against his chest; ignoring Jamie, he doesn't respond as he curls tighter and ice around him freezes more as the wind, responding to his emotion, gently tries its best to push him away. It tries to warn the young adult to not get close, it is only the calm before the storm to come. Jamie ignores the warning and sits down next to Jack.

"Hey... What's wrong?" He looks at Jack with worry, not having seen the winter spirit upset like this in what seems like a lifetime ago to him; even though it was five years... More or less. He is hardly afraid of the cold, he has never had reason to be, not with his best friend being the coldest person on the planet... Even with the events of years past that have been rough on him... He trusts Jack more than anyone and knows that Jack would never intentionally hurt him; he rests one gloved hand on Jack's shoulder, hoping for some response besides the cold in the wind. It was spring, Bunny wouldn't be happy about the weather getting this cold this late in the season... Chanda shivers, but she watches the two, unable to help thinking that it is one brave human would ignore the cold chill she's just felt even through the fur. Jack shakes his hand off, not wanting pity at the moment.

"Please just go away, leave me alone for a bit Jamie." It is all he says before standing and taking his "alone time" into the nearest tree.

 

 

At that same time, Chole is snickering as the Guardians split up from the Workshop in search of Jack to apologize; leaving Mysterie alone. The first thing she notices then is that the room was colder, though not by much more than what she is used to when standing close to Jack. She frowns, glancing about... Why is it colder all of the sudden? Had Jack come back to the pole? Chole smirks, he needs to first get her to chase him. Mysterie swears she can hear Jack's laughter, but can't see him anywhere.

"Mysterie, come with me to my pond, we need to talk." It is he says, he planned to leave to check on Chanda to see how she is fairing with Jack but Mysterie rolls her eyes. She is a little worried... even with the others searching for Jack to apologize.

"You know I can't Jack... honestly..." She looks around, trying to find him.

"Where are you?" Chole snickers a little in Jack's voice.

"Come on... please? I promise I'll explain what is wrong with me..." Mysterie sighs a little, well... it couldn't hurt to try... 

"Okay... but you're going to have to give me directions... I'm not very good at following "floating voices." He obliges, leading her slowly away from the workshop and a little ways away from where Jack was facing down Jamie and the disguised Chanda.

At Jack's pond, Jamie sighs, looking up to where his friend had flown.

"Jack... You know you can tell me anything right? You're still my best friend." Having had enough of this, Chanda steps forward as Bunny.

"Ye best leave him be if ya know what's good fer ya. Storm's a comin' kid." Jamie frowns at her, unaware that she wasn't Bunny.

"I'm not worried about that." He shifts his gaze back to Jack, unaware that she is fuming at the young man's reluctance to leave. Jack doesn't move, not wanting to make Jamie leave like this but the young man wasn't giving him much choice. Ice begins to float a little from the pond in a show of power and Jack jumps down from his perch, the ice cracking slightly when he lands on it. His eyes were ice cold, not the normal blue but the same nova color that Mysterie would recognize, as he looks straight at Jamie.

"Leave now Jamie." It is all he says before a new warning of cold slams into both him and "Bunny," ice spikes growing between Jack and the other two. Jamie doesn't budge and Chanda figures it was time to take matters into her own hands and she snags Jamie into a strong grip.

"Geez kid... you're more stubborn than he is!" She flattens her ears against Jamie's loud protests and hops back to the house she'd heard was his since he'd moved... and she set him down.

"Let me handle this. I won't freeze to death unlike you kiddo.... He'd never forgive himself if THAT happened..." Jamie looks about to protest but instead closes his mouth, knowing that "Bunny" was right.

"Fine... but keep your temper rabbit." He warns.

"Don't worry 'bout me mate... I can handle my own." She hops back to the pond, gritting her teeth against the cold. Just because she could survive the cold doesn't mean it doesn't hurt when it is this cold...

"Oi! Frostbite! Get your bleedin' tail down here 'fore I shake you outta that tree!" 

 

 

Mysterie follows his directions, wondering what in the world all of this was about... and she hopes that he wasn't about to whip up another storm on her like he had years ago one time as a practical joke... Funny as it was after she'd gotten over being pelted by snow all of the sudden, it wasn't exactly something she wanted a repeat of; she enjoyed Jack's pranks, even if she was the victim, but that one she just didn't like as much for some reason... Not one she could put her finger on though honestly since it wasn't like it was the first time he's done something prankish against her. She wonders where it was that Jack was leading her to ... after all there was no way she can go to his pond and Jack knew that. After all... even after all of these years Jamie's wish still kept her from going into Burgess and the pond was just inside the city's limits... Much as she misses the house he'd create for the two of them, there was no way that she could go back unless Jamie made a counter wish... Something she's been meaning to ask the young adult about, but hasn't gotten a chance to since he hadn't left Burgess in a while...

At the pond, Chandra thumps against the tree Jack had settled back into when she'd returned, shaking the tree slightly in threat... She couldn't summon the full powers of spring to use against him... but the point is to make him ticked at the Guardians... to have him attack them of his own accord... If anyone was able to rile him that much she knew it would have to be Bunny. Jack shakes his head.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT I SAID LEAVE J-" He looks down to see the fake Bunny; thinking it is really him, Jack huffs and turns back around, ignoring him.

"Oh no you don't... you are NOT ignoring me!" She pulls out a boomerang and lets it fly, she felt a bit of guilty glee when it slams into the back of his head... if anything, she hates being ignored. Jack falls from the tree, clutching his staff as he fell into a snowdrift. He groans in pain and sits up, anger in him rising to the peaks of Mount Saint Helens.

"WHAT'S YOUR FUCKING DEAL RABBIT?! I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE AND INSTEAD YOU FUCKING HIT ME!!" He roars in anger. Jamie, at his house, notices the gathering clouds and feels worry stab him... 

"I wish Mystrie were here... she could probably get him to come out of his shell..." He mutters, unaware that she can feel the wish he makes and it seems odd to her though... What does he mean? She feels confused all over again... Something weird is going on... She continues to follow Jack's voice, but now she is suspicious. Something is definitely up.

"Jack? What's going on?" The further that he leads her towards the pond the more suspicious she begins to grow... Something isn't right... Nothing seems to have gone right in the last few hours... The Guardians blaming Jack for things she couldn't imagine him doing... It had to have been another winter spirit... There were other winter spirits... None of them were as powerful or mischievous as Jack of course, but she knew about them because she'd been attacked by them over the years... at least up until the last couple of years when word that doing so was a death sentence had finally spread fully through all the spirits. Every one of them that had attacked her had been spared at her behest... but they'd wished they'd hadn't been due to the beating they'd taken from Jack.

Jack's short fuse grows even shorter, the wind picks up and ice slices into the fake Bunny like a knife; causing the changeling to flinch.

"I. Didn't." The wind picks up even more, he was levitating as ice and cold power swirls around him and inside of him, emotional anger-filled eyes that were simply glowing blue with power now were without any pupils showing due to the power that glows within them.

"Do IT!" He screams at the fake spring spirit as a winter storm to rival the '68 one came as he slashes in the direction that the changeling had been, unaware that she had actually turned tail after the first ice had slammed into her. Chandra's wound stung, but she had retreated when she'd seen the power beginning to come from him; she'd pushed him as far as she knew was safe and she hadn't wanted to be frozen in ice and had fled. The snow is blinding and she disappears into the blizzard, forming into a fox with white fur so not to be seen any longer by anyone... Since she couldn't make Bunny's tunnels, it was the only option for her, and dashes off as fast as her feet can carry her... One down... Now how was she to make the others seem just as villainous...?

 

 

Mysterie is immediately caught up in the blizzard that just kept getting worse and worse. She can no longer hear Jack's voice, but she can see a silhouette up ahead, it is shaped like Jack and seems to be emanating a lot of power; Jack can't come down or control the storm now with his emotions going wild. She can sense his lack of control on his emotions and his power. Sensing his distress, she sends curiosity and concern through the bond as she carefully moves through the blizzard she's been caught up in. Now she is sure that something is terribly wrong... She hasn't felt him this upset since Pitch... She shoves the thought aside as she feels pain radiating from Jack as the blizzard grew more and more out of his control, pulling power from him to sustain itself rather than him giving it power. Jack screams into the blizzard, desperately wanting Bunny, as well as the others, to know how he was feeling at that moment, but he also wants to stop this storm. He couldn't though as power shoots wildly this way and that, surging even as he drops his staff, but he still can't get a grip on it to stop it. Alarm at realizing what was really happening pulses through her and despite everything she runs toward him as best as she can.

"Jack!!!" She doesn't understand what was going on at all, she'd only seen evidence of this power one time... and it had nearly been the end of her. She struggles through the blizzard to reach him. Jack's mind is a jumble of voices of doubts as old thought slam through him and the wind responds, the ice turns razor sharp as anger surges through him once more.

"TAKE THIS YOU FUCKING RABBIT! DAMN IT! I AM NO ONE'S TOY!" The wind slices anything and everything around him, trees slam into cars, people outside are driven indoors and close to one another for warmth and protection. Jack is too upset to care about what he is doing to them as power all around the area around him winks out. Mysterie stumbles as one of the razor ice daggers slices into her, she cries out in pain and for a moment she feels fear... But it is only fleeting as she grits her teeth and pulls the ice from her arm, sand sliding from her fingers and around the wound as she struggles on. She had to do .... something... she isn't sure what... but she has to try... Jack lets out all his raw power and anger on the town, the storm moving to other countries as it moves away from Jack as if it has a will all its own; people cry in fear, children are lost and freeze to death, cars crash as nothing but cold and dark seems to sweep everything... The wind howls his rage, Jack clutches his stomach, wanting it all to stop but unable to even as much as he struggles to stop it. Mysterie tries to reach out to him through the bond as she staggers towards him, she can sense the people struggling to get out the way of the storm... of wishes for safety suddenly flowing into her and she knows she has to reach him before too many are lost in the blizzard that is still raging around the two of them. She sends out streams of sand to light the way for many children... who in turn would have to be guides for the adults who can't see the sand... It is all she can do as she finally is able to reach his side. She wraps her arms around him, shocked by the cold he is giving off, but she knows that she simply couldn't leave him here and she summons what sand she can to push them out of the town and to the only place that she can think of that would be safe... Antarctica. Jack struggles against her grip, not knowing it is her for he can't sense anything at the moment but feels a burning pain as the cold drained from him.

"L-leave m-me alone." He says, shaking, trying to get her to let go; not wanting to be seen by anyone at that moment for what he'd done... The wind howls around them, slicing into her, the only living thing it could sink into now that she's managed to get them to the tundra. She clings to him despite the cold that feels like it is becoming fire.

"I swore I never would leave you Jack... never..." She murmurs quietly. Even as a spirit, the cold at this temperature can still hurt... The storm around them and the one that had moved on to other countries doesn't end for at least an hour before the sun's light. It thins out when Jack has nothing left to give it and he collapses against Mysterie, breathing heavily against her, barely conscious. She keeps him close the whole time, but once it is over she is the one who was shivering from the intense cold. The sand she'd used to get them both there had been frozen all around them; she is the only thing keeping him up for the moment though how much longer that would last she wasn't sure. She was cold... so very cold... She hasn't been this cold since.... She whimpers a little... How had she gotten herself into this? This was how she had died... She'd been slowly killed by the effects of hypothermia... She had never considered a moment that she'd be reliving it when she'd taken him to Antarctica... but fear spikes in her now. She isn't afraid of death ... She is afraid of leaving Jack alone... 


End file.
